Kakegawa, Shizuoka

Kakegawa 掛川市
City
Kakegawa Castle
Japanese bush-warbler
Phone number	0537-21-1111
Address	1-1-1, Nagaya, Kakegawa-shi, Shizuoka-ken 436-8650
Website	Official website

Kakegawa (掛川市, Kakegawa-shi) is a city in western Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. As of 10 October 2019^[update], the city had an estimated population of 117,925 in 45,519 households.^[1] The total area of the city is 265.69 square kilometres (102.58 sq mi).

Geography

Kakegawa is in the coastal plains of southwest Shizuoka Prefecture. It is bordered to the south by the Pacific Ocean, and extends for approximately 30 kilometers north-south by 16 kilometers east-west.

Surrounding municipalities

• Shizuoka Prefecture
  • Fukuroi
  • Shimada
  • Mori
  • Kikugawa
  • Omaezaki

Demographics

Like most of Japan, Kakegawa's population is almost exclusively Japanese. However, Kakegawa has a noticeable Nikkei (particularly, South American) population and it is more common to find signs written in Portuguese than in English.

Per Japanese census data,^[2] the population of Kakegawa has been increasing over the past 50 years.

Historical population

Year	Pop.	±%
1940		—
1950	38,938	—
1960	88,989	+128.5%
1970	86,113	−3.2%
1980	94,398	+9.6%
1990	105,030	+11.3%
2000	114,328	+8.9%
2010	116,373	+1.8%

Climate

The city has a climate characterized by hot and humid summers, and relatively mild winters (Köppen climate classification Cfa). The average annual temperature in Kakegawa is 16.1 °C. The average annual rainfall is 2100 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 27.1 °C, and lowest in January, at around 5.8 °C.^[3]

History

The Kakegawa area has been regional commercial center within

holding, was also located within what are now the city limits of Kakegawa.

After the Meiji Restoration, Kakegawa was made part of the short-lived Hamamatsu Prefecture in 1871, which merged with Shizuoka Prefecture in 1876. Kakegawa Town was created in the cadastral reform of April, 1891, four years after the opening of Kakegawa Station on what later became the Tōkaidō Main Line railway. The town expanded steadily over the years, annexing neighboring villages and towns in Ogasa District, and was elevated in status of that of a city in 1954.

On April 1, 2005, the towns of Daitō and Ōsuka (both from Ogasa District) were merged into Kakegawa.

Government

Kakegawa has a

city legislature of 30 members.

Economy

Kakegawa has a mixed economy. It serves as a regional commercial center for west-central Shizuoka Prefecture. In the agricultural sector, production and processing of green tea predominates. The city is surrounded by green tea fields and is known for its high quality tea. Other crops include cantaloupe, tomatoes, strawberries and roses. In terms of industrial production, Kakegawa has several light industry industrial complexes. Major products include telecommunications equipment and electronics, cosmetics, automotive components and musical instruments.

Education

• Tokyo Women's Medical University - Kakegawa campus
• Kakegawa has 23 public elementary schools, and nine public middle schools operated by the city government and four public high schools operated by the Shizuoka Prefectural Board of Education. The prefecture also operates two special education schools for the handicapped. The city formerly hosted a Brazilian school, a primary school called Centro Educacional Sorriso de Criança.^[4]

Transportation

Railway

• Tōkaidō Shinkansen
• Central Japan Railway Company - Tōkaidō Main Line
  • Kakegawa
• Tenryū Hamanako Railroad Tenryū Hamanako Line
  • Kakegawa • Kakegawa-shiyakusho-mae • Nishi-Kakegawa • Sakuragi • Ikoinohiroba • Hosoya • Haranoya • Harada • Towata •

Highway

• Tōmei Expressway
• Shin-Tōmei Expressway
• National Route 1
• National Route 150

Local attractions

• Kakegawa Castle, located only a few hundred meters from Kakegawa Station
• Kakegawa Kacho-en, which hosts a large variety of bird and plant species in a greenhouse-enclosed private garden.
• Yokosuka Castle, a National Historic Site
• Takatenjin Castle ruins, a National Historic Site
• Wadaoka Kofun group, a National Historic Site
• Kotonomama Hachiman-gu, the ichinomiya of Tōtōmi Province.

Twin towns – sister cities

Kakegawa is twinned with:^[5][6]

• Corning
  , United States (1987)
• Eugene, United States (1979)
• Hoengseong County, South Korea (2001)
• Ōshū, Japan (1985)
• Rize, Turkey (2015)^[7]
• Pesaro, Italy (2019)

Notable people

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• Yoshinobu Ishikawa, politician
• Ichiki Kitokurō, politician
• Yoshioka Yayoi, physician, educator
• Satoru Mizushima, filmmaker
• Shunpei Uto, Olympic swimmer
• Kenya Matsui, professional football player
• Hajime Moriyasu, former professional football player, current manager of the Japan national football team

References

External links

• Official website (in Japanese)
• Geographic data related to Kakegawa, Shizuoka at OpenStreetMap