Amagasaki

Amagasaki (尼崎市, Amagasaki-shi) is an industrial city located in Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. The city was founded on April 1, 1916. Its population is around 460,000, below its peak of over 554,000 in 1971.

As of 2012, the city has an estimated population of 450,244 and a population density of 9,010 persons per km². The total area is 49.77 km².

History

During the Edo period, the Amagasaki Domain had its administrative headquarters at Amagasaki Castle here.

Notable residents

Amagasaki is the hometown of comedy duo Downtown stars Masatoshi Hamada and Hitoshi Matsumoto. It is also the hometown of Formula 1 driver Kamui Kobayashi, Chiyu, the bassist of SuG, author Koushun Takami and Heath, bassist of X Japan. Toshiaki Nishioka, a former world champion boxer, is also from this area.

Transportation

Railways

• West Japan Railway Company
  • Tōkaidō Main Line (JR Kobe Line) Amagasaki Station (JR) - Tachibana Station
  • Fukuchiyama Line (JR Takarazuka Line) Amagasaki Station (JR) - Tsukaguchi Station (JR) - Inadera Station
  • JR Tōzai Line Amagasaki Station (JR)
• Hankyu Railway
  • Kobe Line Sonoda Station - Tsukaguchi Station (Hankyu) - Mukonoso Station
  • Itami Line Tsukaguchi Station (Hankyu)
• Hanshin Electric Railway
  • Main Line Kuise Station - Daimotsu Station - Amagasaki Station (Hanshin) - Deyashiki Station - Amagasaki Center Pool mae Station - Mukogawa Station
  • Hanshin Namba Line Daimotsu Station - Amagasaki Station (Hanshin)

A commuter train derailed on the Fukuchiyama Line near Amagazaki on April 25, 2005, resulting in more than 100 dead and 550 injured. See Amagasaki rail crash for details.

JR Amagasaki Station

Roads

• Route 2, Route 43, Route 171
• Expressways
  • Meishin Expressway
  • Hanshin Expressway Kobe Route (3)
  • Hanshin Expressway Wangan Route (5)
• Yamate Road

Politics of Amagasaki

• Amagasaki mayoral election, 2002

On the 22 of November, 2010 Kazumi Inamura became the first popularly elected Greens Japan Mayor as well as the first popularly elected female mayor of the city with 54% of the vote.

Economy

Amagasaki is a major part of the Hanshin Industrial Region. Businesses headquartered in the city include manufacturers such as Osaka Titanium Technologies. The value of manufactured goods shipments in Amagasaki was 1,288 billion yen in 2004.

See also Hanshin Industrial Region.

Education

The city has a North Korean school, Amagasaki Korean Elementary and Middle School (尼崎朝鮮初中級学校). It previously had a second school, Amagasaki East Korean Elementary School (尼崎東朝鮮初級学校).

Sister cities

• Augsburg, Germany - since April 7, 1959
• Anshan, China - since February 2, 1983 (friendship city)
• Kami, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan (Formerly Mikata) - since 1974 (friendship city)

External links

• Media related to Amagasaki, Hyogo at Wikimedia Commons
• Amagasaki City official website Template:Ja icon English machine translation is available on the site.