is the fourth largest city in
Japan. Located on the
Pacific coast in the
Chūbu region on central
Honshū, it is the
capital of
Aichi Prefecture and is one of Japan's major
ports along with those of
Tokyo,
Osaka,
Kobe,
Yokohama,
Chiba, and
Hakata. It is also the center of Japan's third largest metropolitan region, known as the
ChūkyŠMetropolitan Area (see also
ChūkyŠregion). As of 2000, ChūkyŠMetropolitan Area has 8.74 million people, of which 2.17 million live in the city of Nagoya.
[1]
History
In 1610,
Tokugawa Ieyasu moved the capital of
Owari province from Kiyosu around seven kilometers to a more strategic location in present-day Nagoya.
A new large castle,
Nagoya Castle, was constructed partly from materials sourced from
Kiyosu Castle. Along with the construction, the entire town of around 60,000 people, including the temples and shrines, moved from Kiyosu to the new planned town around Nagoya Castle.
[2] Around the same time not far away, the ancient
Atsuta Shrine was designated as a way station called Miya (the Shrine) on the important
TÅkaidÅ Road that linked the two capitals of
Kyoto and
Edo (now Tokyo). The town thus developed around the temple to support travelers. The combination of these two castle and shrine towns forms what we now call Nagoya.
Through the following years Nagoya became an industrial hub for the surrounding region. Its economic sphere included the famous
pottery towns
Tokoname,
Tajimi and
Seto, as well as
Okazaki, one of the only places where
gunpowder was produced under the shogunate. Other industries in the area included
cotton and complex mechanical dolls called ''
karakuri ningyo''.
Part of the modernization efforts of the
Meiji Restoration saw a restructuring of Japan's provinces into prefectures and the government changed from family rule to that by government officials. Nagoya was proclaimed a city on
October 1,
1889, and designated a city on
September 1,
1956 by
government ordinance.
The city's name was historically written as the older Emperor of that time (also read as ''Nagoya''), and as the city is located between
Kyoto,
Shikoku and
Tokyo, it was also historically known as .
Sightseeing
Nagoya's two most famous sightseeing spots are
Nagoya Castle and
Atsuta Shrine.
Nagoya Castle was built in 1612. Although a large part of it burned down in the fires of World War II, the castle was restored in 1959, adding some modern amenities such as elevators. The castle is very famous for two magnificent on the roof, often used as the symbol of Nagoya.
Atsuta Shrine is known as the second-most venerable shrine in Japan, after
Ise Shrine. It enshrines the
Kusanagi sword, one of the three
imperial regalia of Japan. It holds around 70 festivals in a year, and many people visit the shrine year-round. Also, the shrine has over 4,400
national treasures representing its 2,000 years' history.
'Other Attractions'
Nagoya TV Tower
Other Nagoya attractions include:
★ The
Nagoya TV Tower
★ JR Central Towers of
Nagoya Station
★
Midland Square, the new international sales headquarters for the
Toyota Motor Corporation and features Japan's highest open-air observation deck.
[3]
★ The Nagoya Port area (The Nagoya port area includes a themed shopping mall called
Italia Mura as well as the popular Port of Nagoya Public Aquarium.)
★ Higashiyama Zoo and Botanical Gardens.
★ The Toyota museums, 1. The Toyota Automobile Museum in Nagakute and 2. the Toyota Museum of Industry and Technology near Nagoya station.
★ The Noritake factory (the home of Noritake fine chinaware) is also open to visitors and allows people to browse through the history of the establishment. Complete with cafe and information/technology displays, as well as shopping facilities, visitors can spend a whole day wandering through the displays and grounds. It also holds a few sad reminders of devastation during the final stages of WWII.
Nagoya was also home to a
Pokémon-based
theme park, but this is now closed. Nagoya is home to a robot museum.
Wards
Nagoya has 16 :
Demographics
One of the earliest
censuses, carried out in
1889, gave Nagoya's
population as 157,496. It reached the 1 million mark in
1934 and, as of
2004, the city had an estimated population of 2,202,111 with a
density of 6,745 persons per
km². There are estimated to be 945,328 households in the city — a significant increase from 153,370 at the end of
World War II, in
1945.
The total area is 326.45 km². Its
metropolitan area extends into
Mie and
Gifu prefectures, with a total population of about 9 million people, with only Osaka and Tokyo being larger.
Transportation
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Entrace to Shiyakusho Subway Station.
Nagoya is served by
Chūbu Centrair International Airport (NGO) in the city of
Tokoname and by
Nagoya Airport (Komaki Airport) (NKM) which is located in the cities of
Komaki and
Kasugai. On
February 17,
2005, all of
Nagoya Airport's commercial flights (except for flights operated by
J-Air) moved to Centrair.
Nagoya Airport is now used as a
general aviation and
airbase facility.
Nagoya Station, the world's largest train station by floor area, is on the
TÅkaidÅ Shinkansen,
TÅkaidÅ Main Line, and
ChūŠMain Line, among others. The
Nagoya Railroad and
Kinki Nippon Electric Railway provide regional rail service to points in the
TÅkai and
Kansai regions. The city is also serviced by the
Nagoya Subway.
Economy
An aerial view of Nagoya.
Nagoya's main industry is the automotive business, as many Japanese automotive companies are based out of Nagoya, akin to how many U.S. automakers are based out of
Detroit.
Toyota is headquartered in the nearby city of
Toyota. Major automotive suppliers such as
PPG also have a presence in Nagoya.
The Japanese
confectionery company
Marukawa is headquartered in Nagoya, as is the fine ceramics company
Noritake and
Hoshizaki Electric Company, a manufacturer of commercial ice machines and refrigeration equipment. There is also a sizable aerospace and electronics industry in the area.
Nagoya is also known as the birthplace of
pachinko.
Ibanez Guitars is based in Nagoya.
'Breakdown of Nagoya's
GDP by economic activity'
(from the 2005 city profile published by the City of Nagoya)
★ Service 26.5%
★ Wholesale and Retail 20.2%
★ Manufacturing 12.3%
★ Shipping and Communications 10.4%
★ Real Estate 9.8%
★ Administrative Services Supply 5.9%
★ Construction 5.8%
★ Finance and Insurance 5.4%
★ Others 3.7%
The
World Expo 2005, also known as Aichi Expo was held just outside of Nagoya in the neighboring cities of
Nagakute and
Seto. The event was held from March 25 to September 25, 2005.
Education and culture
.jpg)
JR Central Towers and
Nagoya Station, the world's largest train station by floor area.
Nagoya is home to the
Nagoya/Boston Museum of Fine Arts, a sister museum to the
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, which was founded to bring aspects of the MFA's collection to Japan.
The
Tokugawa Museum is a private museum belonging to the Owari branch the Tokugawa family who lived in Nagoya castle for 16 generations. Among other things, it contains 10 designated
national treasures of Japan.
[4]
Several universities are also located in Nagoya, including
Nagoya University and
Nanzan University.
The Nagoya dialect is referred to as
Nagoya-ben.
Some famous Nagoya foods: ''misokatsu'' (
pork cutlet with
miso sauce), ''tebasaki'' (a type of
yakitori), ''kishimen'' (flat
udon noodles), ''misonikomi udon'' (noodles in thick miso soup), ''Nagoya kÅchin'' (a special breed of chicken).
Sports
Nagoya is home to several professional sports teams:
Nagoya is also home of the
Shonai FC amateur football club and
Nagoya Barbarians amateur rugby football club. Since
1984 the city has hosted the
Nagoya Marathon; an annual marathon race for women over the classic distance of 42km and 195 metres.
Sister cities
Nagoya has 5
sister cities:
[5]
★
Los Angeles,
United States of America
★
Mexico City,
Mexico
★
Nanjing,
People's Republic of China
★
Sydney,
Australia
★
Turin,
Italy
The
Nagoya International Center promotes international exchange in the local community.
Notable people
'Great Leaders'
The three great men who unified Japan in the 16th century all have strong links to Nagoya.
Oda Nobunaga (
1534-
1582) came from
Kiyosu Castle in
Owari Province, the western half of modern Aichi prefecture. With brutality, strong allies and good generals he began a process of conquest and unification, but he died because of treachery before he could complete his task. After his death, it was Oda Nobunaga's town of Kiyosu that was moved seven kilometers and became Nagoya.
Toyotomi Hideyoshi (
1536-
1598) was one of
Oda Nobunaga’s top generals. Born in
Nakamura-ku, Nagoya (reputedly near the current
Nagoya Station) He rose from the position of servant to become a general and then the successor to
Oda Nobunaga after his death in 1582. Because of Hideyoshi's lowly birth, he was unable to get the emperor to pronounce him
shogun, nevertheless by 1590 he had conquered Japan. With failing health, Hideyoshi instituted an invasion of Korea in 1591 and then another in 1597. With the war failing, he died in 1598.
Tokugawa Ieyasu (
1543-
1616) was born in
Mikawa Province, the eastern half of modern Aichi prefecture). An ally of sorts to Nobunaga he was able to maintain a level of independence through
Toyotomi Hideyoshi's rule. To maintain this independence, in 1590 Ieyasu made a bargain and relinquished his traditional home (which bordered on Hideyoshi’s) and moved himself and his army to
Edo (now
Tokyo). After Hideyoshi’s death, Japan split as different lords backed different contenders, but in 1600 after the decisive
Battle of Sekigahara, Tokugawa Ieyasu was victorious. Later it was Tokugawa Ieyasu who decided to shift the town of Kiyosu and to build Nagoya castle.
'Inventors/industrialists'
Sakichi Toyoda (
1867-
1930) was a prolific inventor from
Shizuoka Prefecture, he established his loom business in Nagoya where his sequence of inventions revolutionized the weaving business. In particular, he invented the G Type fully automatic
loom, which stops itself when a problem occurs. In 2005
Forbes ranked Sakichi Toyoda as the 13th most influential businessman of all time.
[6]
Kiichiro Toyoda (
1894-
1952), son of Sakichi Toyoda, established
Toyota Motor Corporation in 1937, manufacturing trucks and what is considered the first fully Japanese manufactured production car, the Toyota AA.
'Musicians/Composers'
★
Koji Kondo
'Sports Stars'
★
Ichiro Suzuki (from nearby
Toyoyama, Aichi)
★
Midori Ito
★
Mao Asada
★
Miki Ando
★
Ultimo Dragon
References
1. Population of Japan
2. Kiyosu Castle
3. Midland Square
4. Yamasa.org's Tokugawa Art Museum page
5. Nagoya's Sister Cities
6. Most Influential Businessmen of All Time
External links
★
WikiSatellite view of Nagoya at WikiMapia
★
Nagoya International Center
★
★
Official website
★
Official website
★
Nagoya InfoGuide
★
Nagoya Friends International Party
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