Nagoya

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Nagoya
名古屋
—  Designated city  —
名古屋市 · City of Nagoya[1]
From top left: Nagoya Port, Higashiyama Zoo and Botanical Gardens, Central Nagoya, Nagoya Castle, Nagoya TV Tower

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Location of Nagoya in Aichi
Nagoya is located in Japan
Nagoya
 
Coordinates: 35°11′N 136°54′E / 35.183°N 136.9°E / 35.183; 136.9Coordinates: 35°11′N 136°54′E / 35.183°N 136.9°E / 35.183; 136.9
Country Japan
Region Chūbu
Prefecture Aichi
Government
 - Mayor Takashi Kawamura (DPJ)
Area
 - Total 326.45 km2 (126 sq mi)
Population (January 1, 2010)
 - Total 2,258,804
 Density 6,919.3/km2 (17,920.9/sq mi)
Time zone Japan Standard Time (UTC+9)
City Symbols
- Tree Camphor laurel
(Cinnamomum camphora)
- Flower Lilium
Phone number 052-972-2017
Address 3-1-1 Sannomaru, Naka-ku, Nagoya-shi, Aichi-ken
460-0001
Website City of Nagoya

Nagoya (名古屋市 Nagoya-shi?) is the third-largest incorporated city and the fourth most populous urban area in Japan.[2]

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 Moji. It is also the center of Japan's third largest metropolitan region, known as the Chūkyō Metropolitan Area. As of 2000, Chūkyō Metropolitan Area has 8.74 million people, of which 2.17 million live in the city of Nagoya.[3]

Contents

[edit] History

(The Japanese names in this section are written with the family name first. For example, in the name Oda Nobunaga, the family name is Oda.)

Oda Nobunaga and his proteges Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu were powerful warlords based in the Nagoya area who gradually succeeded in unifying Japan.

In 1610, Tokugawa Ieyasu moved the capital of Owari province from Kiyosu around seven kilometers to a more strategic location in present-day Nagoya. The city's name was historically written as 那古野(read as Nagoya).

Nagoya Castle, a new, large castle, was constructed partly from materials taken from Kiyosu Castle. During 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.[4] Around the same time not far away, the ancient Atsuta Shrine was designated as a way station called Miya (the Shrine) on the important Tōkaidō, a road that linked the two capitals of Kyoto and Edo (now Tokyo). A 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.

Nagoya was the target of U.S. air raids during World War II, beginning on December 13, 1944 with an attack on a Mitsubishi war industries plant. The bombing of Nagoya in World War II continued through the spring of 1945, and included large scale firebombing. Nagoya Castle, which was being used as a military command post, was hit and mostly destroyed on May 14, 1945.[5][6] Reconstruction of the main building was completed in 1959.

In 1959, the city was flooded and severely damaged by the Ise-wan Typhoon.

[edit] 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 Golden Orca (金の鯱 Kin no Shachihoko?) 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 is said to enshrine the Kusanagi sword, one of the three imperial regalia of Japan, but it is not on display to the public. 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 year history. It is currently (2009) undergoing restoration, and the main buildings are essentially completely concealed with protective sheets.

Nagoya TV Tower

Other Nagoya attractions include:

Nagoya was home to a Pokémon-based theme park and a robot museum, but both are now closed.[citation needed]

[edit] Wards

A map of Nagoya's Wards

Nagoya has 16 wards:


[edit] Climate

Climate data for Nagoya, Japan (1971–2000)
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Average high °C (°F) 8.8
(47.8)
9.5
(49.1)
13.4
(56.1)
19.5
(67.1)
23.7
(74.7)
26.7
(80.1)
30.5
(86.9)
32.2
(90)
28.0
(82.4)
22.4
(72.3)
16.7
(62.1)
11.4
(52.5)
20.2
(68.4)
Daily mean °C (°F) 4.3
(39.7)
4.7
(40.5)
8.2
(46.8)
14.1
(57.4)
18.5
(65.3)
22.3
(72.1)
26.0
(78.8)
27.3
(81.1)
23.4
(74.1)
17.6
(63.7)
11.9
(53.4)
6.7
(44.1)
15.4
(59.7)
Average low °C (°F) 1.0
(33.8)
0.6
(33.1)
3.7
(38.7)
9.2
(48.6)
14.0
(57.2)
18.7
(65.7)
22.6
(72.7)
23.8
(74.8)
20.0
(68)
13.5
(56.3)
7.6
(45.7)
2.6
(36.7)
11.4
(52.5)
Precipitation mm (inches) 43.2
(1.701)
64.1
(2.524)
115.2
(4.535)
143.3
(5.642)
155.7
(6.13)
201.5
(7.933)
218.0
(8.583)
140.4
(5.528)
249.8
(9.835)
116.9
(4.602)
79.5
(3.13)
36.8
(1.449)
1,564.6
(61.598)
Snowfall cm (inches) 4
(1.6)
8
(3.1)
0
(0)
0
(0)
0
(0)
0
(0)
0
(0)
0
(0)
0
(0)
0
(0)
0
(0)
1
(0.4)
13
(5.1)
Humidity 65 62 60 62 66 74 76 73 73 69 67 66 68
Avg. snowy days 6.2 6.1 2.2 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.2 2.4 17.1
Sunshine hours 169.8 165.7 189.3 188.4 199.6 145.2 162.9 195.4 141.9 165.6 159.7 169.7 2,053.4
Source: [9]

[edit] 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.

[edit] Transportation

Entrance to Shiyakusho Subway Station.

Nagoya is served by Chūbu Centrair International Airport (NGO) built on the artificial island off shore of Tokoname and by Nagoya Airfield (Komaki Airport, NKM) near the city boundary with Komaki and Kasugai. On February 17, 2005, all of Nagoya Airport's commercial international flights moved to Centrair Airport. Nagoya Airfield is now used for general aviation and airbase facility as well as the main J-Air airline hub.

Nagoya Station, the world's largest train station by floor area, is on the Tōkaidō Shinkansen, Tōkaidō Main Line, and Chūō Main Line, among others. The Nagoya Railroad and Kintetsu provide regional rail service to points in the Tōkai and Kansai regions. The city is also serviced by the Nagoya Subway.

Nagoya Port is the largest port by international trade value in Japan. Toyota Motor Corporation uses Nagoya Port for export of their products.

[edit] Economy

Nagoya is the center of Greater Nagoya which earned nearly 70 percent of Japan's trade surplus as of 2003.[10].

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 Toyota and Nagoya. Mitsubishi Motors has R & D division in Okazaki located in a suburb of Nagoya. Many Japanese automotive suppliers such as DENSO, Aisin Seiki, Toyota Industries, JTEKT or Toyota Boshoku etc. are headquartered in Nagoya or suburbs of Nagoya. Furthermore, major automotive suppliers such as Magna International or PPG also have a presence in Nagoya.

Nagoya City Hall

JR Central, which operates the Tōkaidō Shinkansen, is headquartered in Nagoya, as is the fine ceramics company Noritake. As well Brother Industries which is known for office machines such as multifunction printers, NGK which is known for spark plugs and related products, Nippon Sharyo which is known for manufacturing rolling stock including the Shinkansen bullet trains and Hoshizaki Electric which is known for commercial ice machines and refrigeration equipment are also headquartered here. The Japanese confectionery company Marukawa is headquartered in Nagoya. There is also a sizable aerospace, machine tool and electronics industry in the area [11].

Aerospace-related firms operating in Nagoya include Boeing, Pratt & Whitney, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Bodycote, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Spirit AeroSystems, and Fuji Heavy Industries.

Robot technology is another rapidly developing industry. Mechanized puppets, called "karakuri ningyo", are a traditional craft in the Nagoya area. In addition to the aerospace and robotics industries, a materials engineering industry is also developing in this area.[12]

[edit] Breakdown of Nagoya's GDP by economic activity

(from the 2005 city profile published by the City of Nagoya)

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.

[edit] Education and culture

JR Central Towers and Nagoya Station

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 Art Museum is a private museum belonging to the Owari branch of the Tokugawa clan, who lived in Nagoya castle for 16 generations. Among other things, it contains 10 designated national treasures of Japan.[13]

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 (chicken wings marinated in a sweet sauce with sesame seeds - a type of yakitori), kishimen (flat udon noodles), misonikomi udon (noodles in thick miso soup), Nagoya kōchin (a special breed of free-range chicken).

[edit] Sports

Nagoya is home to several professional sports teams:

Club Sport League Venue Established
Chunichi Dragons Baseball Central League Nagoya Dome 1936
Nagoya Grampus Football J. League Mizuho Athletic Stadium,
Toyota Stadium
1939
Nagoya Oceans Futsal F. League Taiyo Yakuhin Arena 2006

In 2007, the Chunichi Dragons won the Japan Series baseball championship.

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.

A honbasho or sumo tournament is held every July at the Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium. See also The Crowns golf tournament.

[edit] Sister cities

Nagoya has five sister cities around the world:[14]

The Nagoya International Center promotes international exchange in the local community.

[edit] Notable people

[edit] Leaders

The three men who unified Japan in the 16th century all have strong links to Nagoya.

[edit] Inventors/industrialists

[edit] Writer

[edit] Musicians/composers

[edit] Actors

[edit] Sports stars

[edit] Manga artists

[edit] Nagoya in films

Nagoya, especially Nagoya Castle, has been featured in three Godzilla movies, King Kong vs. Godzilla, Mothra vs. Godzilla, and Godzilla vs. Mothra. The city is also featured in the Gamera movie, Gamera vs. Gyaos and the main setting of the 2003 film Gozu and the 1993 American film "Mr. Baseball" starring Tom Selleck. Nagoya was the city-of-subject for the 2007 movie, "Ashita e no yuigon" (translated as "Best Wishes for Tomorrow"), whereby a Japanese war criminal sets out to take responsibility for the execution of U.S. Airmen.[15]

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://www.city.nagoya.jp/global/en/ Nagoya's official English Name
  2. ^ Tokyo is not a single incorporated city - see Tokyo for more information on the definition and makeup of Tokyo.
  3. ^ "Population of Japan". Japanese Statistics Bureau. 2000. http://www.stat.go.jp/English/data/kokusei/2000/final/hyodai.htm. Retrieved 2007-04-20. 
  4. ^ "Kiyosu Castle". http://www.city.kiyosu.aichi.jp/en/sightseeing01.html. Retrieved 2007-05-01. 
  5. ^ "Incendiary Bombing of Japan". http://www.bookmice.net/darkchilde/japan/war6.html. 
  6. ^ Preston John Hubbard. Apocalypse Undone. Vanderbilt University Press. p. 199. http://books.google.com/books?id=nucrbGjY_GoC&pg=PA200&lpg=PA200&dq=nagoya+bombing&source=bl&ots=9tlAhszPyD&sig=HD6F1I5ush1AN0iQ_XhZSt9Zpf4&hl=en&ei=S3o9S6OSNZWekQX0n_XvCA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=10&ved=0CCAQ6AEwCTgK#v=onepage&q=nagoya%20bombing&f=false. 
  7. ^ "Midland Square". 2006-12. http://www.nic-nagoya.or.jp/en/inandaroundnagoya/midland%20square.htm. Retrieved 2007-04-20. 
  8. ^ "The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Money Museum". Nagoya International Center. http://www.nic-nagoya.or.jp/en/inandaroundnagoya/money_museum.htm. 
  9. ^ "気象庁 / 平年値(年・月ごとの値)". Japan Meteorological Agency. http://www.data.jma.go.jp/obd/stats/etrn/view/nml_sfc_ym.php?prec_no=51&prec_ch=%88%A4%92m%8C%A7&block_no=47636&block_ch=%96%BC%8C%C3%89%AE&year=&month=&day=&elm=normal&view=. 
  10. ^ "Report of Chubu Bureau of Economy, Trade and Industry METI (in Japanese)" (PDF). http://www.chubu.meti.go.jp/tyosa/point/data/point-nagoya.pdf. 
  11. ^ "Greater Nagoya Initiative, Industry, Innovation". http://www.greaternagoya.org/html_en/ind_03.html. 
  12. ^ "GREATER NAGOYA INITIATIVE, Industry, Growth Sectors". http://www.greaternagoya.org/html_en/ind_05.html. 
  13. ^ "Yamasa.org's Tokugawa Art Museum page". http://www.yamasa.org/japan/english/destinations/aichi/tokugawa_artmuseum.html. 
  14. ^ "Nagoya's Sister Cities". http://www.nsca.gr.jp. Retrieved 2007-04-20. 
  15. ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1052343/

[edit] External links


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