Everything about Nagoya totally explained
is the fourth-largest city in
Japan.
Located on the
Pacific coast in the
Chūbu region on central
Honshū, it's 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 (see also
Chūkyō region). As of 2000, Chūkyō Metropolitan Area has 8.74 million people, of which 2.17 million live in the city of Nagoya.
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. 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 .
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 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 years' history.
Other Attractions
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 and features Japan's highest open-air observation deck.
- 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, 1. The Toyota Automobile Museum in Nagakute and 2. the Toyota Museum of Industry and Technology near Nagoya station.
- The Noritake factory (the home of Noritake fine chinaware) is also 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 also home to a
Pokémon-based
theme park and a robot museum, but both are now closed.
Wards
Nagoya has 16 :
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
Nagoya is served by
Chūbu Centrair International Airport (NGO) in the city 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 flights moved to Centrair. Nagoya Airfield is now used for
general aviation and
airbase facility as well as
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
Nagoya is the center of the
Greater Nagoya which earns 70 percent of a trade surplus of Japan .
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 the
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. is headquartered in Nagoya or suburbs of Nagoya. Furthermore, major automotive suppliers such as
Magna International or
PPG also have a presence in Nagoya.
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 machine such as
multifunction printer,
NGK which is known for
spark plug 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.
Recently,
robot technology is energetically raised in this area where the many
Karakuri ningyo are inherited as a traditional arts. In addition to the
aircraft industry,robot industry and
material industry are developing in this area.
Nagoya is also known as the birthplace of
pachinko.
Ibanez Guitars is based in Nagoya.
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
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 Museum is a private museum belonging to the Owari branch the Tokugawa family who lived in Nagoya castle for 16 generations. Among other things, it contains 10 designated national treasures of Japan.
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 (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:
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.
Sister cities
Nagoya has 5 sister cities:
Los Angeles, United States of America
Mexico City, Mexico
Nanjing, People's Republic of China
Sydney, Australia
Turin, Italy
The Nagoya International Center promotes international exchange in the local community.
Notable people
Great Leaders
The three great men who unified Japan in the 16th century all have strong links to Nagoya.
Oda Nobunaga (1534-1582) came from Kiyosu Castle in Owari Province, the western half of modern Aichi prefecture. With brutality, strong allies and good generals he began a process of conquest and unification, but he died because of treachery before he could complete his task. After his death, it was Oda Nobunaga's town of Kiyosu that was moved seven kilometers and became Nagoya.
Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1536-1598) was one of Oda Nobunaga’s top generals. Born in Nakamura-ku, Nagoya (reputedly near the current Nagoya Station) He rose from the position of servant to become a general and then the successor to Oda Nobunaga after his death in 1582. Because of Hideyoshi's lowly birth, he was unable to get the emperor to pronounce him shogun, nevertheless by 1590 he'd conquered Japan. With failing health, Hideyoshi instituted an invasion of Korea in 1591 and then another in 1597. With the war failing, he died in 1598.
Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543-1616) was born in Mikawa Province, the eastern half of modern Aichi prefecture). An ally of sorts to Nobunaga he was able to maintain a level of independence through Toyotomi Hideyoshi's rule. To maintain this independence, in 1590 Ieyasu made a bargain and relinquished his traditional home (which bordered on Hideyoshi’s) and moved himself and his army to Edo (now Tokyo). After Hideyoshi’s death, Japan split as different lords backed different contenders, but in 1600 after the decisive Battle of Sekigahara, Tokugawa Ieyasu was victorious. Later it was Tokugawa Ieyasu who decided to shift the town of Kiyosu and to build Nagoya castle.
Inventors/industrialists
Sakichi Toyoda (1867-1930) was a prolific inventor from Shizuoka Prefecture, he established his loom business in Nagoya where his sequence of inventions revolutionized the weaving business. In particular, he invented the G Type fully automatic loom, which stops itself when a problem occurs. In 2005 Forbes ranked Sakichi Toyoda as the 13th most influential businessman of all time.
Kiichiro Toyoda (1894-1952), son of Sakichi Toyoda, established Toyota Motor Corporation in 1937, manufacturing trucks and what is considered the first fully Japanese manufactured production car, the Toyota AA.
Akio Morita (1921-1999) (from nearby Tokoname, Aichi), co-founder of Sony.
Musicians/Composers
Koji Kondo
Sports Stars
Ichiro Suzuki (from nearby Toyoyama, Aichi)
Midori Ito
Mao Asada
Miki Ando
Ultimo Dragon
Manga Artist
Akira Toriyama (from nearby Kiyosu, Aichi), writer of Dragon Ball
Nagoya in fiction
Nagoya, especially Nagoya Castle, has been featured in two Godzilla movies, "King Kong vs. Godzilla" and "Godzilla vs. Mothra"(when Battra attacks as a larva.)
The city is the main setting of the 2003 film "Gozu".Further Information
Get more info on 'Nagoya'.
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