Chūō, Tokyo

Coordinates: 35°40′N 139°46′E / 35.667°N 139.767°E / 35.667; 139.767
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Chūō
中央区
Special ward
Chūō City
Skyline of Chūō Ward by Sumida River
Skyline of Chūō Ward by Sumida River
Flag of Chūō
Flag
Official seal of Chūō
Emblem
Location of Chūō in Tokyo Metropolis
Location of Chūō in Tokyo Metropolis
Chūō is located in Japan
Chūō
Chūō
Location in Japan
Coordinates: 35°40′N 139°46′E / 35.667°N 139.767°E / 35.667; 139.767
CountryJapan
RegionKantō
PrefectureTokyo Metropolis
Government
 • MayorTaito Yamamoto
Area
 • Total10.21 km2 (3.94 sq mi)
Population
 (October 1, 2020[1])
 • Total169,179
 • Density16,569/km2 (42,910/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+09:00 (JST)
City hall addressTsukiji 1-1-1 Chuo-ku, Tokyo
104-8404
Websitewww.city.chuo.lg.jp
Symbols
FlowerAzalea
TreeWillow
Nihonbashi in the Edo period
Nihonbashi in 1922
Night in Nihonbashi

Chūō (中央区, Chūō-ku) is a special ward in the Tokyo Metropolis in Japan. The ward refers to itself in English as Chūō City. It was formed in 1947 as a merger of Kyobashi and Nihonbashi wards following Tokyo City's transformation into Tokyo Metropolis.

Chūō-ku, as a combination of Kyobashi and Nihonbashi, is the core of

Shitamachi,[2] the original downtown center of Edo-Tokyo. Literally meaning "Central Ward", it is historically the main commercial center of Tokyo, although Shinjuku has risen to challenge it since the end of World War II
.

The most famous district in Chūō is Ginza, built on the site of a former silver mint from which it takes its name. The gold mint, or Kinza (金座), formerly occupied the site of the present-day Bank of Japan headquarters building, also in Chūō.

As of October 1, 2020, the ward has a resident population of 169,179, and a population density of 16,569 persons per km2. The total area is 10.21 km2. However, because of the concentration of businesses, offices and retail space, the daytime population swells to an estimated 650,000.

Geography

Chūō is in the central area of Tokyo, surrounded by the five special wards of

Kōtō
.

Administratively, Chūō is divided into the three zones of Nihonbashi, Kyobashi and Tsukishima. Nihonbashi and Kyobashi are predominantly commercial areas on the east side of

condominium
towers.

Until World War II, the area was crisscrossed by small rivers and canals, used by small boats which were the primary vehicles of commerce at the time. After the war, many of these waterways were filled in to make way for new roads, buildings and expressways. However, the former waterways are the basis for many of the neighborhood divisions in the ward. The Sumida River forms the eastern boundary of the ward.

Chūō is physically the second-smallest ward in Tokyo, with a total area of just 10.15 km2; only Taitō is smaller.

History

  • 1612: Shōgun Tokugawa Ieyasu, planning to establish Edo as the de facto capital of Japan, begins work on a new commercial district surrounding the eastern end of the Tōkaidō, the main road connecting Tokyo and the Kansai region. During the Edo period this area is known as Edomachi—the town center of Edo. Much of the area (particularly Ginza and Tsukiji) was loose sand piled at the delta of the Sumida River before being filled in by the shogunate.
  • 1657: After a fire consumes much of the city, the area is re-planned with more canals to accommodate more maritime commerce.
  • 1869: A foreigners' settlement is established in Tsukiji. It continues until about 1899.
  • 1872: A fire consumes much of the Ginza area. In its aftermath, the governor of Tokyo re-plans Ginza to be a modern European-style commercial district between Shinbashi (the city's main railway terminal at the time) to the south and Nihonbashi (the main business and financial district) to the north.
  • 1878: Under a new local organization statute, the wards of Nihonbashi and Kyobashi are established under the government of Tokyo City, covering the area now occupied by Chūō.
  • 1945: Following Japan's defeat in World War II, several buildings are taken over by
    SCAP
    to serve as supply centers for the occupation forces. These include the Hattori Watch Company, the Matsuya department store and the Toshiba Building. The buildings are returned to Japanese civilian control by 1951.
  • 1947: Chūō Ward is founded on March 15 under the new
    Local Autonomy Law
    , merging the former Nihonbashi and Kyōbashi wards.

Districts and neighborhoods

Mitsukoshi Department Store
Tsukiji Hongwanji

Nihonbashi Area (日本橋地区)

Kyōbashi Area (京橋地区)

Tsukishima Area (月島地区)

  • Harumi (晴海): the Harumi passenger terminal is here
  • Kachidoki [ja] (勝どき): The location of a bridge of the same name over the Sumida River
  • Toyomicho [ja] (豊海町)
  • Tsukishima (月島); Famous for many Monjayaki restaurants
  • Tsukuda (佃)

Economy

Nomura Group and Meidi-Ya are also headquartered in the ward.[17][18] Shimizu Corporation and Sumitomo Mitsui Construction, two construction companies are headquartered in the ward, the former in Kyōbashi and the latter in Tsukuda district.[19][20]
offshore floating platforms, T. Hasegawa, a flavors and fragrances company, and Nissan Chemical Corporation, have their corporate headquarters in the Nihonbashi district.[32][33][34]

Foreign operations

IBM has its Japan headquarters in Chūō.[35]

Former economic operations

Asatsu moved to Ginza in July 1995. Asatsu and Dai-ichi Kikaku merged into Asatsu-DK on January 1, 1999.[36]

In the late 1990s

GeoCities Japan was headquartered in the Nihonbashi Hakozaki Building in Nihonbashi.[37]

Tokyopop maintained its Japanese headquarters in Mid-Tower of the Tokyo Towers.[38]

Politics and government

Chuo is run by a city assembly of 30 elected members. The current mayor is

Komeito
.

Elections

Transportation

Further information:
Transportation in Greater Tokyo

Rail

At Tokyo Station, six Shinkansen, seven ordinary railway, and one subway line serve Chūō. In addition, three Toei subway lines stop at various stations throughout the ward.

Highway

Shuto Expressway

  • No. 1 Ueno Route
    (Edobashi JCT – Iriya)
  • No. 6 Mukojima Route (Edobashi JCT – Horikiri JCT)
  • No. 9 Fukagawa Route
    (Hakozaki JCT – Tatsumi JCT)
  • C1 Inner Loop
    (Edobashi–Takaracho–Kyōbashi–Ginza–Shiodome–Hamazakibashi–Shiba Park–Tanimachi–Kasumigaseki–Daikanmachi–Edobashi)

Education

Colleges and universities

Primary and secondary education

Public elementary and junior high schools schools in Chūō are operated by the Chūō City Board of Education (中央区教育委員会). Public high schools are operated by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Board of Education.

There is one prefectural high school in Chuo Ward, Harumi Sogo High School [ja].

Public junior high schools include:[40]

Public elementary schools include:[40]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Population by District". Tokyo Statistical Yearbook. Retrieved 2022-07-15.
  2. ^ Kokushi Daijiten Iinkai. Kokushi Daijiten (in Japanese). Vol. 4, page 842 (1983 ed.).
  3. ^ "Company Data Archived 2009-02-05 at the Wayback Machine". Ricoh. Retrieved on January 13, 2009.
  4. ^ "Topics - Annual Report 2006 Archived 2009-02-26 at the Wayback Machine". Ricoh. Retrieved on January 13, 2009.
  5. ^ "Outline of Ricoh". Ricoh. May 16, 1997. Retrieved on January 13, 2009.
  6. ^ "Company Data Archived 2009-02-05 at the Wayback Machine". Ricoh. Retrieved on January 13, 2009.
  7. ^ "Corporate Profile". Sumitomo Corporation. Retrieved on January 26, 2009.
  8. ^ "Daiichi Sankyo Company Profile". Retrieved 8 March 2014.
  9. ^ "Corporate Data ". Oji Holdings Corporation. Retrieved on March 21, 2014.
  10. ^ "Corporate Data". Hokuetsu Corporation. Retrieved on December 18, 2018.
  11. ^ "Corporate Data Archived 2011-05-29 at the Wayback Machine". J. Front Retailing. Retrieved on December 15, 2010. "Office : 1-1, Yaesu 2-chome, Chuo-ku, Tokyo "
  12. Asahi Shimbun
    . Retrieved February 26, 2010.
  13. ^ 会社概要. Nihon Ad Systems. Archived from the original on September 28, 2011. Retrieved February 26, 2010.
  14. ^ "Company Profile." Mitsui E＆S. Retrieved on May 28, 2018.
  15. ^ "Toward the realization of "Ajinomoto Group Zero Emissions" Chuo Ace Logistics Corporation achieves "Green Management Certification" Chuo Ace Logistics Corporation promotes environmentally friendly logistics Archived 2017-09-13 at the Wayback Machine". Ajinomoto. Retrieved on February 12, 2010.
  16. ^ "Corporate Data". Mitsui Fudosan. Retrieved on May 19, 2009.
  17. Nomura Group
    . Retrieved on May 30, 2010.
  18. ^ "Company Profile." Meidi-Ya. Retrieved on May 13, 2013. "Head Office 2-2-8 Kyobashi, Chuo-ku Tokyo 104-8302"
  19. ^ "Corporate Profile." Shimizu Corporation. Retrieved on April 13, 2014.
  20. ^ "Corporate Profile." Sumitomo Mitsui Construction. Retrieved on September 12, 2017.
  21. ^ 会社概要 - オリオンビール. Orion Breweries. Retrieved November 30, 2009. 東京営業所所在地 〒104-0032 東京都中央区八丁堀4丁目５－１２ アインツビル１F
  22. ^ "FAQ". Takeda Pharmaceutical Company. Retrieved on February 2, 2011. "Q : Where is Takeda located? A : [...] and the Tokyo Head Office is located in Tokyo, Japan".
  23. ^ "Overview". Takeda Pharmaceutical Company. Retrieved on February 2, 2011. "Tokyo Head Office 12-10, Nihonbashi 2-chome, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 103-8668"
  24. ^ "Head Office". Toray Industries. Retrieved on August 2, 2014.
  25. Denka
    . Retrieved on July 29, 2014.
  26. ^ "Corporate Profile Archived 2012-08-14 at the Wayback Machine". Astellas Pharma. Retrieved on September 10, 2014.
  27. KOSÉ
    . Retrieved on February 12, 2017.
  28. ^ "Corporate Profile". Nisshinbo Holdings. Retrieved on February 13, 2017.
  29. ^ "Corporate Profile". Akebono Brake Industry. Retrieved on February 15, 2017.
  30. ^ "Corporate Profile." Kureha Corporation. Retrieved on November 21, 2018.
  31. ^ "Corporate Profile". Sumitomo Chemical. Retrieved on February 5, 2015.
  32. ^ "Corporate Profile." MODEC. Retrieved on February 25, 2019.
  33. ^ "Outline Archived 2019-12-24 at the Wayback Machine." T. Hasegawa. Retrieved on April 24, 2019.
  34. ^ "Corporate Profile." Nissan Chemical Corporation. Retrieved on May 8, 2019.
  35. ^ "IBM Japan". IBM. Retrieved on October 21, 2009.
  36. ^ "Corporate Overview Archived 2009-12-07 at the Wayback Machine". Asatsu-DK. Retrieved on November 9, 2009.
  37. GeoCities Japan. February 21, 1999. Archived from the original
    on February 21, 1999. Retrieved April 30, 2009.
  38. ^ "Contact Us Archived 2009-07-15 at the Wayback Machine". Tokyopop. Retrieved on July 23, 2009.
  39. ^ "Access Nihonbashi Campus". Waseda University. Retrieved 2022-10-15. COREDO Nihonbashi, 1-4-1 Nihonbashi, Chuuou-ku, Tokyo, 1103-0027, JAPAN
  40. ^ a b "区立学校一覧". Chuo City Board of Education. Retrieved 2022-10-14.
  41. ^ "Preserving the past". The Japan Times. 2010-09-27. Retrieved 2022-10-15. - Editorial
  42. ^ "学校紹介" (in Japanese). Chuo Elementary School. 24 February 2011. Retrieved 2022-10-15.
  43. ^ "Home". Meisho Elementary School. Retrieved 2022-10-17. １０４－００３３　　中央区新川２－１３－４
  44. ^ "Home". Toyomi Elementary School. Retrieved 2022-10-17. 〒104-0055 東京都中央区豊海町３－１

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Chūō, Tokyo.
Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Chuo.
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