Everything about Shimizu-ku Shizuoka totally explained
is a
ward of
Shizuoka,
Shizuoka prefecture,
Japan. It started on April 1 in 2005, when Shizuoka city gained
designation by government ordinance.
Aoi-ku and
Suruga-ku started at the same time. Its area is identical to former Shimizu city, which merged with former Shizuoka city on
April 1,
2003. Shimuzu-ku added the town of
Kanbara from
Ihara District on March 31, 2006, and will add the town of
Yui on November 1, 2008. As of
August 1,
2007, Shimizu's area is 242.43
square kilometres and its
population is 241,244.
Since ancient times, Shimizu has had good natural ports and thrived as a harbor town. Located on Miho Bay, it has been a good natural
harbour serving
naval, land and sea transport
hub. In addition, three
post stations of
Tōkaidō were located in Shimizu:
Kanbara-juku,
Okitsu-juku and
Ejiri-juku, all of which brought prosperity to Shimizu. In the
modern era, it exported
green tea and became a base for global
fishery, involving affiliated industries. However, owning to changes in industrial structures, the economy has slowed down recently.
A Japanese comic "
Chibi Maruko-chan" put Shimizu on the national map. This comic is written by
Momoko Sakura from Shimizu. Shimizu is famous for its enthusiasm in
soccer. A
J. League professional club
Shimizu S-Pulse is just an example.
Geography
It locates on the coast of
Suruga Bay and covers a wide area from a coastal plain to mountains. The scenery of
Mt. Fuji is beautiful and many pictures and paintings of the combination of
Mt. Fuji and the
Pacific Ocean have been taken at
Shimizu Bay. Since Shimizu is relatively close to
Yokohama, they're often compared with each other in terms of harbor, tourism and leisure.
Shimizu-Bay is International port in Japan, many foreign ships and Aegis battleship come in this bay.
Transport
Shimizu has two trains line servicing the area. Locally, the Shizuoka-tetsudo, or
Shizutetsu connects Shimizu with Shizuoka. Nationally, the
Tōkaidō Main Line runs through Shimizu, with
Shimizu Station serving the area. Until 1984, the
Shimizu Port Line ran 8 km into Miho in the heart of the Shimizu peninsula. Local bus services provide many routes throughout Shimizu-ku.
Economy
Shimizu was introduced in a school textbook of geography as a city with all three industries: agriculture, heavy industry and commerce.
Primary industry
It is well known for producing
Japanese mandarin oranges, and you can find many farms for
green tea in the mountainous area and around the
Nihon-daira.
Shimizu port is famous as the no.1 place for landing
tuna and exporting
green teas. Production of
roses used to be the highest in Japan.
Heavy industry
The waterfront area is an industrial area and there are fish factories where they manufacture cans. However, since the
oil shock, the industry position has continued to decline.
Commerce
There is a shopping mall at the
Shimizu station, called Shimizu Ginza, and it used to be the city center of Shimizu. However, there's no department store now.
Seiyu is only an urban shopping center, which is located at the corner in front of the station. Since many large suburban shopping centers have been expanding, the shopping mall in the downtown area isn't as lively as it used to be. Lately,department stores like
Nagasaki-ya,
Marui,
Seifu and
Daiei have closed, one after the another. Moreover, since Shimizu emerged with Shizuoka, the plan is being implemented to move fundamental functions to the area around
Higashi-shizuoka station. This will be the third central area in addition to Shimizu and Shizuoka. Some people fear a further deterioration of the center of Shimizu along with central Shizuoka.
Leisure
Soccer
Shimizu is famous as one of the top five cities where soccer is quite popular. It is called “soccer kingdom” and it's well known as the home town of a
J. League team,
Shimizu S-Pulse. The elementary schools and junior high schools equip fields with night lightings for soccer and Shimizu has maintained this infrastructure for a long time. Since 1987, the national soccer competition “
Shimizu cup” for boys and girls has been held in August. However, since around 2000, soccer teams around Shimizu, including S-pulse, have not achieved good results in national competitions. In 2005,
Kenta Hasegawa became the new manager of S-Pulse and is embarking on its reconstruction. In 2006, it excelled with the rise of young players and was ranked 4th of 17 teams.
Tourist Spot
Shimizu-ku in Fiction
Shimizu-ku is the location for the manga
Chibi Maruko-chan.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Shimizu-ku Shizuoka'.
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