Chiba, Chiba

Chiba (Japanese千叶 市, -shi ) is a Japanese city and the seat of the homonymous Präfekturalverwaltung Chiba Prefecture in Japan near Tokyo. The name of the city (and prefecture ) means a thousand leaves.

In Chiba, there is a port and the Keiyo Industrial Zone, which is located east of Tokyo Bay, with three power plants ( an oil power plant from 1950 with 475 MW, two gas-fired plants in 1995 and 2000 with a total of 2800 MW), as well as major steel and petroleum industries. Before the onset of industrialization around 1945 Chiba was known primarily as the origin of soy sauce, liqueur, sweet sake wine and beer. Chiba is also an important railway junction.

The Chiba Temple is one of the sights of the city. A traffic- technical feature is the Monorail Chiba Monorail.

History

A settlement Chiba was mentioned at today's town square for the first time in the Heian period around 1100 AD by Taira Tsuneshige, who then laid the foundation for the city and themselves Chiba no Suke called. His descendants, the surname of " Chiba " zulegten itself, ruled the region until the Muromachi period. In the Kamakura period, the family due to the support of Minamoto Yoritomo in the establishment of the Kamakura Bakufu reached its greatest importance. By continuing wars but reached since the 16th century in the region successively various other gender to power. In the Edo period, the region was considered a core area of ​​Tokugawa Ieyasu, parts of the region were ruled directly by the Tokugawa Bakufu from the other areas through related dynasties.

The city was refounded in Chiba from several settlements on 1 January 1921 and then had 33 877 inhabitants. On April 1, 1992 Chiba was appointed at a score of 920,000 inhabitants on the " big city government directive ," a title which is awarded in Japan cities that have more than 500,000 inhabitants and a large economic and industrial importance. In mid-2007 there were 17 such cities in Japan.

Traffic

• Street: Higashikantō - highway to Tōkyō or Kashima
• Tateyama highway
• National Road 14
• National Highway 16 after Kisarazu, Saitama, Hachioji, Yokohama and Yokosuka
• National roads 51, ​​126, 357

• Train: Chiba station JR Chuo Line sobu
• JR Keiyo Line to Tokyo
• JR Sotobo - line
• JR Uchibō - line

See also: Chiba Monorail

Boroughs

The city is divided into six districts:

Policy

• LDP: 17
• DPJ: 9
• Kōmeitō: 8
• JCP: 6
• Mirai Sozo Chiba: 6
• Shimin Network: 2
• Ishin: 2
• Minna: 2
• Non-attached Members: 2

Since 1992, Chiba is a " big city government directive " ( Seirei shitei toshi ) and has a higher degree of autonomy than ordinary cities.

To the mayor was elected on 14 June 2009 with the support of the DPJ and SDP Toshihito Kumagai. He was the successor of the in May 2009 resigned under allegations of corruption Keiichi Tsuruoka and was the age of 31 in his choice of the nation's youngest mayor. In 2013 he was clearly confirmed, with broad support from the three largest parties LDP, DPJ, Kōmeitō, but even at a distance to the parties against two candidates in office.

The City Council Chiba ( Chiba shigikai ) has regularly 54 members who are elected in the six districts by simple non- transferable vote. From the last election in 2011 the LDP emerged as the strongest party with 14 members, the DPJ won ten seats, the Kōmeitō eight, the JCP six.

Sports

• Football - Chiba is the home of the football club JEF United Ichihara Chiba from the J. League Division 2, the games are in the Fukuda Denshi Arena discharged.
• Baseball - Chiba is the home of the baseball club Chiba Lotte Marines of the Pacific League, whose games at Chiba Marine Stadium will be played.

Chiba is the home of the world's most important Ekiden competition, which is held annually in November at the " Labor Day ".

Sons and daughters of the town

• Masaki Aiba ( singer and actor )
• Ryutaro Arimura ( singer, model )
• Tetsuya Harada ( motorcycle racer )
• Tomoaki Ishizuka (guitarist )
• Kyoko Nagatsuka ( tennis player )
• Fumie Suguri ( figure skater )
• Keiichi Tsuruoka ( politician)

Twinning

Sister cities:

• Paraguay Asunción, Paraguay, since 1970
• Canada North Vancouver, Canada, since 1970
• United States Houston, United States since 1972
• Philippines Quezon City, Philippines, since 1972
• Switzerland Montreux, Switzerland, since 1996

Friendship cities:

• People's Republic of China Tianjin, People's Republic of China, since 1986
• People's Republic of China Wujiang, People's Republic of China, since 1996

Education

• Chiba University

Special Mentions

In William Gibson's novel Neuromancer Chiba City is the starting point of the story. The city was also mentioned later in some short stories Gibsons or they played in Chiba City.

Adjacent Cities and Towns

• Ichihara
• Narashino
• Sakura
• Mobara
• Yachiyo
• Togane