Kawasaki, Kanagawa

**Kawasaki City**
**川崎市**
Location
Country	Japan
Region	Kanto
Prefecture	Kanagawa Prefecture
Physical characteristics
Area	144.35 km²
Population (as of March 2006)
Total	1,330,309
Density	9,216/km²
Symbols
Tree	Camellia
Flower	Azalea
Symbol of Kawasaki City
Kawasaki City Hall
Mayor	Takao Abe
Address	〒210-8577 Kawasaki-shi, Kawasaki-ku, Miyamoto-cho 1
Phone number	044-200-2111
Official website: Kawasaki City

Kawasaki (川崎市, Kawasaki-shi^?) is a city located in Kanagawa, Japan.

It is sandwiched between Tokyo and Yokohama to form part of the Greater Tokyo, the most populous urban area on earth.

1 History
2 Geography
3 Transport
4 Wards
5 Demographics
6 Places of interest
7 Industries
8 Twin cities
9 Images
10 External links
11 Categories

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 proper, 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.

Transport

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.

The Tokyo Wan Aqua-Line, a bridge-tunnel across Tokyo Bay, connects Kawasaki and the city of Kisarazu in Chiba Prefecture.

Wards

Kawasaki has seven wards (ku):

Demographics

As of 2003, the city has an estimated population of 1,290,426 and the density of 9,042.93 persons per km². The total area is 142.70 km².

Places of interest

Kawasaki Daishi - the 2nd most visited temple in the Kanto 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).