Karuizawa, Nagano
 | This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (January 2012) |
Karuizawa
軽井沢町 | |
|---|---|
Town | |
 Typical scenery of Karuizawa | |
|
UTC+9 (Japan Standard Time) | |
| Phone number | 0267-45-8111 |
| Address | 2381-1 Nagakura, Karuizawa-machi, Kitasaku-gun, Nagano-ken 389-0192 |
| Climate | Dfb |
| Website | Official website |
| Symbols | |
| Bird | Brown-headed thrush |
| Flower | Sakurasō (Primula sieboldii) |
| Tree | Magnolia kobus |
Karuizawa (軽井沢町, Karuizawa-machi) is a
Geography
Karuizawa is located in eastern Nagano Prefecture, bordered by Gunma Prefecture to the north, east and south. The town is located on an elevated plain at the foot of Mount Asama, one of Japan's most active volcanoes. The mountain is classed as a Category A active volcano. A small eruption was detected in June 2015, a more significant eruption spewing hot rocks and a plume of ash occurred in February 2015. Mt. Asama's most destructive eruption in recent recorded history took place in 1783, when over 1,000 were killed. The volcano is actively monitored by scientists and climbing close to the summit is prohibited.[3]
- Usui Pass
- Highest elevation: 2,568 m (8,425 ft) (Top of Mount Asama)
- Lowest elevation: 798.7 m (2,620.4 ft)
Surrounding municipalities
- Nagano Prefecture
- Gunma Prefecture
Climate
Karuizawa has a humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification Dwb) with warm summers and cold winters. The average annual temperature in Karuizawa is 8.6 °C (47.5 °F). The average annual rainfall is 1,246.2 mm (49.06 in) with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 20.8 °C (69.4 °F), and lowest in January, at around −3.3 °C (26.1 °F).[4] Precipitation is much heavier in the summer than in the winter.
| Climate data for Karuizawa (1991−2020 normals, extremes 1925−present) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 16.1 (61.0) |
18.8 (65.8) |
22.6 (72.7) |
28.3 (82.9) |
29.5 (85.1) |
31.1 (88.0) |
34.2 (93.6) |
33.9 (93.0) |
31.3 (88.3) |
27.7 (81.9) |
22.3 (72.1) |
20.7 (69.3) |
34.2 (93.6) |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 2.3 (36.1) |
3.5 (38.3) |
7.8 (46.0) |
14.3 (57.7) |
19.2 (66.6) |
21.5 (70.7) |
25.3 (77.5) |
26.3 (79.3) |
21.7 (71.1) |
16.2 (61.2) |
11.2 (52.2) |
5.3 (41.5) |
14.5 (58.2) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | −3.3 (26.1) |
−2.6 (27.3) |
1.1 (34.0) |
7.0 (44.6) |
12.3 (54.1) |
16.0 (60.8) |
20.1 (68.2) |
20.8 (69.4) |
16.7 (62.1) |
10.5 (50.9) |
4.8 (40.6) |
−0.5 (31.1) |
8.6 (47.4) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | −8.2 (17.2) |
−8.0 (17.6) |
−4.5 (23.9) |
0.6 (33.1) |
6.3 (43.3) |
11.8 (53.2) |
16.4 (61.5) |
17.1 (62.8) |
13.0 (55.4) |
6.3 (43.3) |
−0.2 (31.6) |
−5.3 (22.5) |
3.8 (38.8) |
| Record low °C (°F) | −20.3 (−4.5) |
−19.6 (−3.3) |
−21.0 (−5.8) |
−11.6 (11.1) |
−6.1 (21.0) |
−0.9 (30.4) |
5.0 (41.0) |
7.0 (44.6) |
−0.2 (31.6) |
−6.5 (20.3) |
−11.8 (10.8) |
−18.0 (−0.4) |
−21.0 (−5.8) |
| Average precipitation mm (inches) | 36.8 (1.45) |
36.8 (1.45) |
68.3 (2.69) |
81.0 (3.19) |
108.8 (4.28) |
154.6 (6.09) |
191.8 (7.55) |
141.6 (5.57) |
193.5 (7.62) |
151.1 (5.95) |
52.5 (2.07) |
29.6 (1.17) |
1,246.2 (49.06) |
| Average snowfall cm (inches) | 44 (17) |
38 (15) |
33 (13) |
5 (2.0) |
0 (0) |
0 (0) |
0 (0) |
0 (0) |
0 (0) |
0 (0) |
1 (0.4) |
19 (7.5) |
141 (56) |
| Average precipitation days (≥ 1.0 mm) | 5.2 | 5.3 | 8.4 | 8.9 | 9.9 | 12.6 | 14.8 | 11.5 | 11.4 | 9.3 | 5.9 | 5.0 | 108.2 |
| Average snowy days (≥ 1 cm) | 9.2 | 8.7 | 6.1 | 0.8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.3 | 4.9 | 30 |
| Average relative humidity (%)
|
76 | 74 | 72 | 70 | 75 | 85 | 87 | 87 | 89 | 87 | 80 | 78 | 80 |
| Mean monthly sunshine hours | 181.6 | 191.8 | 194.8 | 204.6 | 198.5 | 144.8 | 138.6 | 162.7 | 126.6 | 140.3 | 162.5 | 171.9 | 2,022 |
| Source: Japan Meteorological Agency[5][4] | |||||||||||||
History
The area of present-day Karuizawa was part of ancient Shinano Province, and developed as Karuisawa-shuku, a post station on the Nakasendō highway connecting Edo with Kyoto during the Edo period.
- August 2, 1876: The hamlets of Kutsukake, Shiozawanitta, Karijuku, Narusawanitta, and Yui merged to form the village of Nagakura. The village of Hatsuji in Saku District absorbed the hamlet of Matorikaya.
- January 14, 1879: Kitasaku District was created, and the town of Usuitoge, and the villages of Karuizawa, Nagakura, Oiwake were established with Kitasaku District.
- 1886: Canadian Anglican missionary Rev. Tokyo Imperial University English professor James Main Dixonintroduced Karuizawa as a summer resort.
- April 1, 1889: With the establishment of the modern municipalities system, the town of Usuitoge, and the villages of Karuizawa, and the areas of the former villages of Kutsukake, Shiozawanitta, and Karijuku from the village of Nagakura merged to form the village of Higashinagakura in Kitasaku District, and the areas of the former villages of Narusawanitta and Yui in the village of Nagakura, and the villages of Hatsuji and Oiwake merged to form the village of Nishinagakura in Kitasaku District.
- 1910s: Begins to attract the attention of other expatriates and Japanese.[6] Specially Germans congregate here, language professors and academics hold annual conferences.
- August 1, 1923: The village of Higashinagakura gains town status to become the town of Karuizawa. (The pre-town areas before gaining the town status is known as Kyu-Karuizawa.)
- May 8, 1942: The village of Nishinagakura is merged into Karuizawa
- 1942-45: Site of an internment camp for enemy foreigners and diplomats during World War 2.
- From 1943 relocation of an increasing number of Germans from Tokyo, which is suffering from US fire bombing. The Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers deported most German nationals in late 1947.
- 1951: Selected as International Cultural and Tourism City.
- February 1, 1957: Karuizawa absorbed Serizawa area from the former village of Goga, which was absorbed by the town of Miyota.
- April 1, 1959: The Kajikazawa area of the former village of Oiwake was split off and merged with the town of Miyota.
- 1964: 1964 Summer Olympics (Equestrian)
- February 1972: Asama-Sanso incident; Police besiege communist militants holed up in holiday resort after mass killing and hostage taking.
- October 1, 1997: The Nagano Shinkansenopens, serving Karuizawa.
- 1998: 1998 Winter Olympics (Curling)
- 2004: Mount Asama erupts.
- 2016: The G7 Transport Ministers' Meeting
- 2019: The G20 Energy and Environment Ministers' Meeting
- 2023: G7 Foreign Ministers' Meeting in conjunction with the G7 Summit[7]
Demographics
Per Japanese census data,[8] the population of Karuizawa has been increasing over the past 60 years.
| Year | Pop. | ±% |
|---|---|---|
| 1940 | 8,746 | — |
| 1950 | 13,676 | +56.4% |
| 1960 | 13,299 | −2.8% |
| 1970 | 13,373 | +0.6% |
| 1980 | 14,195 | +6.1% |
| 1990 | 15,464 | +8.9% |
| 2000 | 16,181 | +4.6% |
| 2010 | 19,023 | +17.6% |
| 2020 | 19,188 | +0.9% |
Economy
Since one of the origins of the
Hoshino Resorts is headquartered in Karuizawa.[9]
Education
Karuizawa has three public elementary school and one public middle school operated by the town government, and one public high school is operated by the Nagano Prefectural Board of Education. The UWC ISAK Japan international school is also located in the town.
Transportation
Railway
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Highway
International relations
Campos do Jordão, Brazil[10]
Whistler, British Columbia, Canada[10]
Local attractions
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With its comparatively cool summer weather, its cold refreshing nights, its heavy air-clearing showers, its southern aspect, and its position close to some of the most picturesque mountain scenery of Japan, Karuizawa leaves little to be desired as a summer retreat.
— Cargill Gilston Knott, "Notes on the Summer Climate of Karuizawa", 1891[11]
... while quite recently even Japanese gentlemen of high degree have begun to build houses and introduce their families. As in so many other cases, the world followed the lead of the missionaries. Foreigners are now the raison d’étre of Karuizawa, and no echo of Feudalism haunts the hills.
— Ernest Foxwell, "A Tale of Karuizawa", 1903[12]
Karuizawa, the most popular summer resort in the whole of the Far East […] .
— Arthur Lloyd, "Every-day Japan", 1909[13]
Karuizawa was developed as a European-style resort town by a Scottish-Canadian missionary in 1888. In the following decades, the town attracted visitors from across the country seeking to escape the heat of summer and enjoy vacations, as well as a significant number of Westerners. Unlike many other
More recently, Karuizawa has become a popular year-round resort for mainly Japanese, offering many outdoor sports, hot springs and recreational activities. Convenient road and rail access from central Tokyo has ensured Karuizawa's popularity as a location for second homes and resort hotels since the Meiji era.
Karuizawa is known for its historic shopping street known as "Ginza dōri" or "Kyū-dō" (
Karuizawa hosted equestrian events in the 1964 Summer Olympics as well as curling in the 1998 Winter Olympics. It is the first city in the world to host both Summer and Winter Olympic events.[20]
Since 1997, Karuizawa has been accessible via the
In popular media
- The Birds of Karuizawa from Sept haïkaï, Olivier Messiaen's composition
- The Wind Rises, Studio Ghibli film
- Karuizawa appeared in a part of the film.
- When Marnie Was There, Studio Ghibli film
- The model of the mansion that appeared in the film is the villa in Karuizawa.
- Karuizawa Yūkai Annai, Enixadventure game
- The Curious Adventures of Sherlock Holmes in Japan, Dale Furutani's novel
- The story is based on the premise that Sherlock Holmes was in Karuizawa in the “missing years (1891-1894)”.
Notable residents
And now I am writing in the most lovely study in the world. Over my head the pine branches meet in arches of kindly green ; […].
— Mary Crawford Fraser, "A Diplomatist's Wife in Japan: Letters from Home to Home", 1899[21]
There followed a delightful few days in Karuizawa, our last for the summer. Douglas Fairbanks was a most acceptable guest, […].
— Joseph Grew, Private diary, 1932[22]
Summers in Karuizawa were not just a break in the year but seemed a whole lifetime in themselves. I have far more memories of the minutiae of life there than I do of the much longer periods of time spent in Tokyo.
— Edwin O. Reischauer, "My Life Between Japan and America", 1986[23]
Karuizawa is an old summer resort in Japan very much like the
They (Olivia's parents) had two properties up in Karuizawa in the mountains for the summer. People fled Tokyo in the summer because the heat is quite extreme.
— Olivia de Havilland, Interview, 2006[26]
- Neil Gordon Munro, Scottish physician and anthropologist
- Paul Jacoulet, French woodblock print artist
- Massimo Baistrocchi, Italian diplomat
- Paul Bryan, British Conservative politician
- T. Canby Jones, American professor
- E. Herbert Norman, Canadian diplomat and historian
- Ronald Lampman Watts, Canadian professor
- Willie Weeks, American bass guitarist
- Tatsuo Hori, Japanese writer
- Ken Watanabe, Japanese actor
- Kōji Tamaki, Japanese singer
- Yukihiro Takahashi, Japanese drummer
- Kazumi Watanabe, Japanese guitarist
- Towa Tei, Japanese record producer
- Tabaimo, Japanese artist
Summer residents
- Alexander Croft Shaw, Canadian missionary
- J. G. Waller, Canadian missionary
- James Main Dixon, Scottish professor
- Edward Bickersteth, Anglican missionary
- Walter Weston, English missionary
- Hannah Riddell, English missionary
- Hugh Fraser, English diplomat
- Bernard Leach, British studio potter
- Francis Brinkley, Anglo-Irish editor
- Walter de Havilland, English patent attorney
- John Lennon, English musician
- August Karl Reischauer, American missionary
- Mary Eddy Kidder, American missionary
- Edwin O. Reischauer, American diplomat
- Edgar Bancroft, American diplomat
- William J. Sebald, American diplomat
- Joseph Grew, American diplomat
- Robert L. Eichelberger, American general officer
- Donald Keene, American writer and professor
- Merrell Vories Hitotsuyanagi, American architect
- Antonin Raymond, Czech-American architect
- Roman Rosen, Russian baron and diplomat
- Leo Sirota, Ukrainian-born Jewish pianist
- Beate Sirota Gordon, Austrian-born American performing arts presenter
- Fosco Maraini, Italian photographer
- Topazia Alliata, Italian noblewoman and painter
- Dacia Maraini, Italian writer
- Hirohito, Japanese emperor
- Akihito, Japanese emperor
- Naruhito, Japanese emperor
- Empress Michiko, Japanese empress
- Empress Masako, Japanese empress
- Prince Yasuhiko Asaka, member of the Japanese imperial family
- Ōkuma Shigenobu, Japanese prime minister
- Fumimaro Konoe, Japanese prime minister
- Ichirō Hatoyama, Japanese prime minister
- Eisaku Satō, Japanese prime minister
- Morihiro Hosokawa, Japanese prime minister
- Tarō Asō, Japanese prime minister
- Shōjirō Ishibashi, Japanese businessman
- Akio Morita, Japanese businessman
- Yoshiaki Tsutsumi, Japanese businessman
- Masayoshi Son, Korean-Japanese businessman
- Sadako Ogata, Japanese professor
- Nitobe Inazō, Japanese author
- Takeo Arishima, Japanese writer
- Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, Japanese writer
- Yasunari Kawabata, Japanese writer
- Kunihiko Kodaira, Japanese mathematician
- Shigeaki Hinohara, Japanese physician
- D. T. Suzuki, Japanese Buddhist monk
- Yoko Ono, Japanese artist
- Arata Isozaki, Japanese architect
- Junzo Sakakura, Japanese architect
- Matsumoto Hakuō II, Japanese kabuki actor
- Ichikawa Ennosuke III, Japanese kabuki actor
- Sayuri Yoshinaga, Japanese actress
Evacuees of World War II
- Leonid Kreutzer, Russian-born Jewish pianist
- Alexander Mogilevsky, Ukrainian violinist
- Victor Pokrovsky, Russian choral director
- Varvara Bubnova, Russian painter
- Victor Starffin, Russian baseball player
- Manfred Gurlitt, German conductor
- Eta Harich-Schneider, German harpsichordist
- Karlfried Graf Dürckheim, German diplomat and Zen master
- Joseph Rosenstock, Polish-born American conductor
- Robert Guillain, French journalist
- Widar Bagge, Swedish diplomat
- Francis Haar, Hungarian socio-photographer
References
- ^ Karuizawa Town official statistics Archived 2019-03-31 at the Wayback Machine(in Japanese)
- ^ Shotenkenchiku-sha, HOTEL RESTAURANTS & BARS, 1995, p.15
- ^ Demetriou, Danielle (16 June 2015). "Mount Asama volcano erupts near Tokyo". The Telegraph.
- ^ a b 気象庁 / 平年値（年・月ごとの値）. JMA. Retrieved April 19, 2022.
- ^ 観測史上1～10位の値（年間を通じての値）. JMA. Retrieved April 19, 2022.
- ^ Tohoku: The Scotland of Japan, p. 181
- ^ "G7 Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Karuizawa, Nagano". Foreign Policy. Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Retrieved 16 April 2023.
- ^ "Karuizawa population statistics". Archived from the original on 2019-04-30. Retrieved 2019-04-30.
- ^ "Company Overview of Hoshino Resort Co., Ltd. (Archive). Bloomberg Businessweek. Retrieved on September 22, 2013. "2148, oazanagakura karuizawa-machi Kitasaku, 389-0111 Japan"
- ^ a b "International Exchange". List of Affiliation Partners within Prefectures. Council of Local Authorities for International Relations (CLAIR). Archived from the original on 2 January 2017. Retrieved 21 November 2015.
- ^ Cargill Gilston Knott, “On the Summer Climate of Karuizawa”, Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan, Vol. XIX, Ginza: Hakubunsha, 1891, p.574
- ^ Ernest Foxwell, A Tale of Karuizawa, The Living Age, Vol. 236, Boston : Living Age Company, 1903, p.107
- ^ Arthur Lloyd, Every-day Japan, London, New York, Toronto and Melbourne: Cassell and Company Limited, 1909, p.281
- ^ Anne Shannon, Lana Okerlund, “Finding Japan: Early Canadian Encounters with Asia”, p.56, Heritage House, 2012.
- ^ Edging Toward Japan: My Karuizawa Dreams, The Mainichi, February 12, 2022.
- ^ Resort town links East with West, The Japan Times, May 5, 2019.
- ^ Davis, Tony (8 May 2015). "Nakasendo walking trail leads to the heart of old Japan – and bear country". The Australian Financial Review. Archived from the original on 2 June 2016. Retrieved 3 May 2016.
- ^ Former emperor, empress visit Karuizawa tennis court where they first met in 1957 The Japan Times, Aug 25, 2019.
- ^ William Horsley, Roger Buckley, “Nippon New Superpower: Japan Since 1945”, p.85, BBC Books, 1990.
- United States Olympic Committee, 1998.
- ^ Mrs. Hugh Fraser, A Diplomatist's Wife in Japan: Letters from Home to Home, Vol. II, London: Hazell, Watson and Viney, 1899, p.53
- ^ A golfers' paradise, Asian Turfgrass Center.
- ^ Karuizawa, c. 1920. Archived 2021-04-11 at the Wayback MachineOld Tokyo.com
- ^ James Henke, “Lennon: His Life and Work”, p.11, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, 2000.
- ^ Yoko Ono (April 1, 2021), Twitter
- ^ Dame Olivia de Havilland, Academy of Achievement
External links
Media related to Karuizawa, Nagano at Wikimedia Commons- ja:軽井沢 (in Japanese)
- Official Website (in Japanese)
- Karuizawa Tourism Website (in Japanese)
- Karuizawa Tourism Website (in English)
| International | |
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| National | |
| Geographic | |
| Other | |
