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==History==
==History==
{{refimprove|section|date=Nov 2009}}
{{Refimprove|section|date=November 2009}}
In 1610, [[Tokugawa Ieyasu]] moved the capital of [[Owari province]] from Kiyosu around seven kilometers to a more strategic location in present-day Nagoya.
In 1610, [[Tokugawa Ieyasu]] moved the capital of [[Owari province]] from Kiyosu around seven kilometers to a more strategic location in present-day Nagoya.


Revision as of 22:20, 18 November 2009

For the small town in Batam, Indonesia, see Nagoya, Batam.

Template:Fixbunching Template:Infobox City Japan Template:Fixbunching Nagoya (名古屋市, Nagoya-shi) is the third-largest incorporated city and the fourth most populous urban area in Japan.[1]

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 Hakata. 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.[2]

History

In 1610, Tokugawa Ieyasu moved the capital of Owari province from Kiyosu around seven kilometers to a more strategic location in present-day Nagoya.

A new large castle, Nagoya Castle, was constructed partly from materials sourced from Kiyosu Castle. Along with 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.[3] 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 that linked the two capitals of Kyoto and Edo (now Tokyo). The 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.

The city's name was historically written as the older Emperor of that time (also read as Nagoya), and as the city is located between Kyoto, Shikoku and Tokyo, it was also historically known as "central capital" (中京, Chūkyō).

Sightseeing

Nagoya Castle

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. 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:

  • The Nagoya TV Tower
  • JR Central Towers of Nagoya Station
  • Midland Square: The new international sales headquarters for the Toyota Motor Corporation features Japan's highest open-air observation deck.[4]
  • The Nagoya Port area: The Nagoya port area includes a themed shopping mall called Italia Mura as well as the popular Port of Nagoya Public Aquarium.
  • Higashiyama Zoo and Botanical Gardens
  • The Toyota museums: The Toyota Automobile Museum in Nagakute and the Toyota Museum of Industry and Technology near Nagoya station.
  • The Noritake factory: The home of Noritake fine chinaware is open to visitors and allows people to browse through the history of the establishment. Complete with cafe and information/technology displays, as well as shopping facilities, visitors can spend a whole day wandering through the displays and grounds. It also holds a few sad reminders of devastation during the final stages of WWII.
  • The Nagoya/Boston Museum of Fine Arts (N/BMFA)

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

Wards

A map of Nagoya's Wards

Nagoya has 16 wards:

Climate

Climate data for Nagoya, Japan (1971-2000)
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Source: [5]

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.

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.

Economy

Central Nagoya

Nagoya is the center of Greater Nagoya which earned nearly 70 percent of Japan's trade surplus as of 2003.[6].

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, 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 rolling stock include Shinkansen or Hoshizaki Electric which is known for commercial ice machines and refrigeration equipment. The Japanese confectionery company Marukawa is headquartered in Nagoya. There is also a sizable aerospace,machine tool and electronics industry in the area [7].

Recently, robot technology is energetically raised in this area where Karakuri ningyo are inherited as a traditional art. In addition to the aircraft industry, robot industry and material industry are developing in this area.[8]

Breakdown of Nagoya's GDP by economic activity

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

  • Service 26.5%
  • Wholesale and Retail 20.2%
  • Manufacturing 12.3%
  • Shipping and Communications 10.4%
  • Real Estate 9.8%
  • Administrative Services Supply 5.9%
  • Construction 5.8%
  • Finance and Insurance 5.4%
  • Others 3.7%

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.

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.[9]

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 chicken).

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

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.

Sister cities

Nagoya has five sister cities:[10]

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

Notable people

Leaders

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

Inventors/industrialists

Writer

Musicians/composers

Sports stars

Manga artists

Nagoya in fiction

Nagoya, especially Nagoya Castle, has been featured in two Godzilla movies, King Kong vs. Godzilla and Godzilla vs. Mothra. The city is also the main setting of the 2003 film Gozu and the 1993 American film "Mr. Baseball" starring Tom Selleck.

References

  1. ^ Tokyo is not a single incorporated city - see Tokyo for more information on the definition and makeup of Tokyo.
  2. ^ "Population of Japan". Japanese Statistics Bureau. 2000. Retrieved 2007-04-20.
  3. ^ "Kiyosu Castle". Retrieved 2007-05-01.
  4. ^ "Midland Square". 2006-12. Retrieved 2007-04-20. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  5. ^ "気象庁 / 平年値（年・月ごとの値）". Japan Meteorological Agency.
  6. ^ "Report of Chubu Bureau of Economy, Trade and Industry METI (in Japanese)" (PDF).
  7. ^ "GREATER NAGOYA INTIATIVE, Industry, Inovation".
  8. ^ "GREATER NAGOYA INTIATIVE, Industry, Growth Sectors".
  9. ^ "Yamasa.org's Tokugawa Art Museum page".
  10. ^ "Nagoya's Sister Cities". Retrieved 2007-04-20.
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