'Chiba' (千葉市 ''Chiba-shi'') is the capital
city of
Chiba Prefecture,
Japan. It is located approximately 40km east from the center of
Tokyo on
Tokyo Bay. Chiba City became a government
designated city in 1992, and now has a population of approximately 930,000.
Chiba City is also one of the
Kantō region's primary seaports, and is home to Chiba Port, which handles one of the highest volumes of cargo in the nation. Much of the city is residential, although there are many factories and warehouses located along the coast. There are several major urban centers in the city, including
Makuhari, a prime waterfront business district in which
Makuhari Messe is located, and Central Chiba, in which the prefectural government office and the city hall are located.
Chiba is famous for the
Chiba Urban Monorail, the longest hanging
monorail in the world, as published in the
Guinness Book of World Records. Some popular destinations in the city include: Kasori Shellmound, the largest shellmound in the world at 134,000m², Inage Beach, the first artificial beach in the nation which forms part of the longest artificial beach in Japan, and the Chiba City Zoological Park, which gained popularity because of the
red panda Futa, who stands with human-like posture.
History
The city was founded on
January 1,
1921 and was designated on
April 1,
1992 by
government ordinance.
In the
Heian period, the first records related to the city of
Chiba record the emigration of
Taira Tsuneshige (平常重) to
Chiba. He proclaimed himself "
Chiba no Suke" (千葉介) and governed around the region we know as
Chiba city today. His descendants claimed the family name of "
Chiba" and continued dominance of this region until the
Muromachi period. In the
Kamakura period,
Chiba Tsunetane (千葉常胤) helped
Minamoto Yoritomo (源頼朝) establish the
Kamakura Bakufu. This made the
Chiba clan important in the
Kamakura Bakufu. He built
Inohana castle on
Inohana mountain and moved his headquarters to it from
Oohji castle.
Their power and influence declined because of wars around the
Kantō region during the
Nanboku-cho and
Muromachi periods. In the 16th century, instead of the
Chiba clan, the
Hara clan, which was one of the servants of
Chiba clan, wielded power in this region. In the
Sengoku period, the
Hara clan was forcibly removed by Yoshiaki Ashikaga (足利義明, not to be confused with
足利義昭). Then, Yoshiaki Ashikaga was also removed by the Sakai (酒井 not to be the
Sakai clan in
Mikawa) clan, which was one of the servants of the
Satomi (里見) clan. Finally both the
Chiba and Sakai clans were annihilated by
Toyotomi Hideyoshi.
In the
Edo period, both the
Oyumi (生実) (
Morikawa (森川)) clan and the
Sakura (佐倉) clan governed the region. A part of the region was governed directly by the
Tokugawa Bakufu. The
Oyumi clan governed their territory stably. On the other hand, according to the
Sakura clan, in the beginning of the
Edo period, the governor was frequently changed by various events, such as
Takeda Nobuyoshi (武田信吉),
Matsudaira Tadateru (松平忠輝).
Ogasawara Yoshitsugu (小笠原吉次),
Doi Toshikatsu (土井利勝) and so on. Finally the
Hotta (堀田) clan stably governed their territory.
Demographics
As of March
2007, the city has an estimated
population of 931,544 and a
density of 3,423.79 persons per
km². The total area is 272.08 km². There were 19,135 registered foreign residents in the city as of March 31,
2007, making up for about 2% of the total population.
Politics and government
Chiba is governd by
Keiichi Tsuruoka, an
independent. The city assembly has 54 elected members.
Wards
Map of the wards in Chiba.
Chiba has six
wards (''ku''):
★
Chūō-ku
★
Hanamigawa-ku
★
Inage-ku
★
Midori-ku
★
Mihama-ku
★
Wakaba-ku
Culture
One of Chibas specialties is peanuts, or ''rakkasei''.
Sports
Home Stadium of the Chiba Marines.
Chiba is home to several professional sports teams:
Transportation
Air
Narita International Airport and
Tokyo International Airport are the closest major airports.
Rail
Chiba Station
The
Chiba Urban Monorail runs through Chiba City. The major intercity railway stations are
Chiba Station , (
Sobu Line,
Sotobo Line,
Uchibo Line,
Sobu Main Line,
Narita Line,
transfer for Chiba Urban Monorail) ,
Keisei Chiba Station (
Keisei Chiba Line), and
Soga Station , (
Keiyo Line ,
Sotobo Line,
Uchibo Line) all in Chūō-ku.
Road
★
Higashi-Kantō Expressway to
Tokyo,
Narita and
Kashima
★
Tateyama Expressway to
Kisarazu
Chiba in fiction
★
William Gibson used a futuristic Chiba as one of the main settings for his novel ''
Neuromancer'', also referred in some of his other stories.
★ In , ''Chiba'' is the name of a Kuritan JumpShip.
★ In
Jamiroquai's song
Space Cowboy, Chiba is mentioned in the lyrics.
Sister cities
★
Houston, Texas,
United States
★
North Vancouver, British Columbia,
Canada
★
Montreux,
Switzerland
★
Tianjin,
The People's Republic of China
★
Wujiang,
The People's Republic of China
★
Asunción,
Republic of Paraguay
★
Quezon City,
Republic of the Philippines
Trivia
★
Ryuta Kawashima was born in Chiba in 1959.
★ Kasori Shellmound is the largest shellmound in the world, and Chiba City has the highest concentration of shellmounds in the world.
★ The Chiba Urban Monorail is the longest hanging monorail in the world.
★ The average life expectancy for men in Chiba City is the longest in the nation.
★
Makuhari Messe of
Mihama Ward, which opened in 1989, was the first convention center in Japan.
★ The city is home to the longest artificial beach in the nation, at a length of 4,320m.
★
Aiba Masaki of
Arashi is from Chiba.
★
yukihiro of
L'Arc~en~Ciel is from Chiba. He is a graduate of The Chiba University of Commerce.
External links
★ Official website
in Japanese,
in English and
in Korean
★
★
Chiba Japan Information Site
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