'Kashima' (鹿嶋市; -shi) is a port
city located on the
Pacific Ocean in
Ibaraki,
Japan. It is sometimes considered to be part of the
Greater Tokyo Area.
As of
2003, the city has an estimated
population of 63,379 and the
density of 681.79 persons per
km². The total area is 92.96 km².
The city was founded on
September 1,
1995.
Kashima is the home of a major professional soccer team,
Kashima Antlers.
Kashima Stadium was used for the soccer World Cup in 2002. The city is also the site of the
Kashima Shrine, a
Shinto temple which is considered the birthplace of many influential styles of swordplay (
Kenjutsu) in Japan. It's one of the most oldest shrine in eastern Japan, founded in
660 BC in legend, and the real period is estimated as the
4th century from historical studies.
Kashima is the central city of
Kashima Industrial Zone, and it has a large industrial park with about 1500 factories, speciallized for
petrochemical and
steel plants. Japan Government created this zone from
1963, and the development was mostly completed in
1973.
Transportation
Kashima is at the eastern end of the JR
Kashima Line which connects it (through the
Narita Line and
Sobu Line) to
Chiba Prefecture and
Tokyo. The
Higashi-Kantō Expressway follows a similar route from Kashima to Tokyo. Most of passengers use the expressway for Tokyo, and railways works mainly for local passengers or some of goods.
The closest major airport is
Narita International Airport, linked by expressway. There is a large international freight port,
Kashima Port in the industrial zone.
External links
★
Kashima official website in Japanese
★
Kashima Ohka Park
★
Kashima Stadium (Prefectual Kashima Soccer Stadium)