KAWASAKI, KANAGAWA

''This article is about the Japanese city. For the vehicle manufacturing company, see Kawasaki Heavy Industries.''
is a city located in Kanagawa, Japan.
It is sandwiched between Tokyo and Yokohama to form part of Greater Tokyo, the most populous urban area on earth. It is also the most populous city in Japan without its own city subway system, however, the city is heavily rail based. The region where Kawasaki lies was originally part of Musashi Province, or Tokyo region (as opposed to Sagami associated with Kanagawa), as evidenced by the Nambu Line.

History

The city was founded on July 1, 1924 and was designated on April 1, 1972 by government ordinance.

Geography

Kawasaki occupies a belt of land stretching about 30km along the south bank of the Tama River, which divides it from Tokyo prefecture, with the city of Yokohama immediately to the south.
The eastern end of the belt is flat, and much of it consists of heavily industrialised and densely built working-class areas, centered around JR Kawasaki Station. The reclaimed coastline of Tokyo Bay is occupied by vast heavy chemical industry complexes at the heart of the Keihin Industrial Area.
In contrast, its western suburbs occupy an area of hills known as Tama Hills and are mostly pleasant, often newly developed residential areas for people commuting to Tokyo. Shin-Yurigaoka station on the Odakyu line serves as the regional hub of the western half of the city.
Despite its status as the 8th most populated city in Japan, it is often seen to lack an identity (and certainly a true city centre) of its own, due to the fact that it is effectively part of the huge Tokyo-Yokohama conurbation.

Wards

Map of the wards in Chiba.

Kawasaki has seven wards (''ku''):

★ Asao-ku (麻生区)

★ Kawasaki-ku (川崎区)

★ Miyamae-ku (宮前区)

★ Nakahara-ku (中原区)

★ Saiwai-ku (幸区)

★ Takatsu-ku (高津区)

★ Tama-ku (多摩区)

Demographics

As of 2007, the city has an estimated population of 1,366,342 and the density of 9,465 persons per km². The total area is 144.35 km². Area is constantly expanded due to construction of artificial islands in Tokyo Bay, though very little of the expanded zone is used for housing.

Politics and Government

Kawasaki is governed by mayor Takao Abe, an independent supported by the Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito. The city assembly has 63 elected members.

Elections

★ Kawasaki mayoral election, 2005

Sports

Facilities

Baseball

★ Kawasaki Stadium - Located in Kawasaki-ku. Opened in 1952, and was used as a home field for professional baseball teams (see below) from 1954 to 1991. The stands were taken down in 2001, and is currently used for American football games and other events in addition to baseball.

★ Kawasaki Todoroki Baseball Stadium - Located in Nakahara-ku. Maximum capacity of 5,000 people. Used for preliminary rounds of high school baseball and American football games.

Field Athletics & Soccer

★ Todoroki Athletics Stadium - Located in Nakahara-ku. Maximum capacity of 25,000 people. Opened in 1964, the stadium underwent several renovations before becoming the home field for the Kawasaki Frontale. Also used frequently for track & field competitions.

Golf

★ Kawasaki International Golf Course - Located in Tama-ku. Opened in 1952 as Kawasaki International Country Club. Became a public course in 1992.

Indoor Facilities

★ Kawasaki Prefectural Gymnasium - Located in Kawasaki-ku. Opened in 1956, and is used for Puroresu matches. 20 minutes walking distance from Kawasaki Station's east entrance.

★ Kawasaki Todoroki Arena - Located in Nakahara-ku. International field athletics and volleyball matches are held here, in addition to various musical concerts.

Cycling & Horseracing

★ Kawasaki Keirin

★ Kawasaki Keiba

Professional sports

Nippon Professional Baseball

The first professional baseball team in Kawasaki were the Mainichi Orions, who used Kawasaki Stadium as their secondary homefield when the stadium was opened in 1952. The first official team to declare Kawasaki their home were the Takahashi Unions, established in 1954 as the 8th team in the Pacific League. The team was created from beer manufacturer Ryutaro Takahashi's own pocket money, and was mostly made up of players who had been cut from other teams, resulting in poor finishes each year. The team ended up becoming a huge financial mess, and was merged with the Taiei Stars team before the start of the 1957 season.
In 1955, the Taiyo Whales (current Yokohama BayStars) moved from Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi to Kawasaki, becoming the second professional baseball team to call Kawasaki home. The Whales team saw increased attendance at home games, but failed to make any impact in the standings until 1960, when the team won the pennant and swept the Pacific League champions in the Japan Series. The team went on to place a close second behind the Hanshin Tigers in 1964, but quickly dropped down into obscurity in the standings afterwards.
In 1978, the Taiyo Whales relocated to the newly erected Yokohama Stadium, overriding protest from Kawasaki citizens. The Lotte Orions (current Chiba Lotte Marines) had wanted a home stadium located near Tokyo, (the Lotte team was based in Tokyo, but played most of their games in Sendai) and moved in the same year. The team saw low attendance, but Kawasaki Stadium was the site for several important records in Japanese baseball history, including Isao Harimoto's 3,000th hit, Hiromitsu Ochiai's consecutive triple crowns from 1984 to 1985, and the dramatic league championship game on October 19, 1988 against the Kintetsu Buffaloes. However, Lotte moved away to Chiba Marine Stadium in 1992, becoming the third and last professional baseball team to be based in Kawasaki.
In research conducted in the aftermath of the Great Hanshin earthquake, it was discovered that Kawasaki Stadium would not withstand an earthquake above magnitude 5. The stadium's stands were taken down, dimming any chances of it being used as a home field once again. The last professional game held at Kawasaki Stadium was a pre-season game between the Yokohama BayStars and Chiba Lotte Marines. Todoroki Baseball Stadium is also located in Kawasaki, but lack of equipment prevents it from being used in professional games.

J. League

Before the start of the J. League, there were several former Japan Soccer League teams already playing in the Kawasaki region. At the formation of the J. League in 1993, they refused to be merged into one team, resulting in the Yomiuri FC becoming the professional soccer team of Kawasaki. Yomiuri had originally wanted to be based in Tokyo, but lack of adequate stadiums forced them to hold most of their games in Todoroki Athletics Stadium.
The team was renamed to Verdy Kawasaki, and became the season champions for the first two seasons of J. League. The team enjoyed massive popularity, having star players such as Kazuyoshi Miura and Ruy Ramos. However, the city did very little to improve the sorry state of the team's home stadium until protest from citizens forced them to fix up the field. It took two years for the stadium to be expanded to a J. League regulation-size (25,000 capacity) stadium.
The former JSL teams in Kawasaki were either disbanded or moved to other cities, and Verdy Kawasaki moved to Tokyo Stadium in 2000 to leave Kawasaki without a J1 (J. League division 1) soccer team. Kawasaki Frontale, formed in 1997, was demoted to J2 in 2001, but returned to J1 in 2004. Frontale aims to reinforce its ties with the city through avid participation in community events.

Transportation

The railway network around Kawasaki (northeast area in this map)

Only one railway line links the east and western ends of Kawasaki city (JR Nambu Line), whereas a multitude of train lines traverse the city north to south, making access to central Tokyo much more convenient than travel within Kawasaki itself. A subway line is planned between Kawasaki station in the east and Shin-Yurigaoka in the west.
Major transit points are Musashi-Mizonokuchi Station, Kawasaki Station area, and Shin-Yurigaoka Station.
The Tokyo Wan Aqua-Line, a bridge-tunnel across Tokyo Bay, connects Kawasaki and the city of Kisarazu in Chiba Prefecture.

Places of interest

★ Kawasaki Daishi - the 2nd most visited temple in the Kantō area.

★ Nihon Minka-en - a park with a collection of 20 ''minka'', or traditional farmhouses, from various areas in Japan.

★ Koreatown - eastern Kawasaki has the 2nd largest concentration of Koreans in Japan after Osaka. In 1997 it became the first municipality to allow non-Japanese nationals to take civil service employment.

Industries

Kawasaki has several factories and development bases of the companies of heavy indusry (e.g., JFE Group, Nippon Oil Corporation) and high technology (Fujitsu, NEC Corporation, Toshiba).

Twin cities

Images

External links

★ Official website

★ Official website

★

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