Takasaki

Takasaki is located in the southwestern part of Gunma Prefecture in the flat northwestern part of the Kantō Plain. The city is located approximately 100 kilometers from the center of Tokyo. Mount Akagi, Mount Haruna and Mount Myogi can be seen from the city, and the southern slopes of Mount Haruna are within the city limits. The Tone River, Karasu River and Usui River flow through the city. Although Takasaki is located over 100 kilometers from the coast, much of the city is low-lying, and the elevation of the city hall and central city area is only 97 meters above sea level. The land rises to the northern and western parts of the city to a maximum elevation of 1690 meters.

Gunma Prefecture

• Maebashi
• Annaka
• Fujioka
• Kanra
• Shibukawa
• Shintō
• Tamamura
• Naganohara
• Higashiagatsuma

Nagano Prefecture

• Karuizawa

Saitama Prefecture

• Kamisato

Takasaki has a Humid continental climate (Köppen Cfa) characterized by warm summers and cold winters with heavy snowfall. The average annual temperature in Takasaki is 14.2 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1247 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 26.3 °C, and lowest in January, at around 3.1 °C.[2]

Per Japanese census data,[5] the population of Takasaki has increased relatively steadily over the past 50 years.

During the Edo period, the area of present-day Takasaki was the center of the Takasaki Domain, a feudal domain held by a branch of the Matsudaira clan under the Tokugawa shogunate in Kōzuke Province. The area also prospered from its location on the Nakasendō highway connecting Edo with Kyoto. Post stations located within the borders of modern Takasaki were: Shinmachi-shuku, Kuragano-shuku, and Takasaki-shuku. Following the Meiji Restoration, Takasaki was briefly capital of Gunma Prefecture, before the capital was moved to Maebashi in 1881.

Takasaki Town was created within Gunma District, Gunma on April 1, 1889 with the creation of the modern municipalities system. It was raised to city status on April 1, 1900. On April 1, 1927, Takasaki annexed the neighboring villages of Tsukasawa and Kataoka, followed by Sano on October 1, 1937. The city largely escaped damage in World War II. Following the war, it continued to expand its borders by annexing the village of Rokugo on April 1, 1951, Shintakao and Nakamura as well as Yawata and Toyooka from Ushi District on January 20, 1955. This was followed by Orui village and Sano village from Tano District on September 30, 1956. The city celebrated its 360th anniversary in 1963 and annexed the town of Kuragano on March 31 of the same year. On September 1, 1965 the village of Gunnan was annexed.

In September 1987, five-year-old Yoshiaki Ogiwara, the son of a local firefighter, was abducted and subsequently murdered in Takasaki. The murder received heavy media coverage across Japan.[6]

On April 1, 2001 Takasaki was proclaimed a Special City (Tokurei-shi), which gave it greater autonomy.

On January 23, 2006, the towns of Gunma, Kurabuchi and Misato (all from Gunma District), and the town of Shinmachi (from Tano District) were merged into Takasaki. On October 1, 2006, the town of Haruna (from Gunma District) was merged into expanded city of Takasaki. Gunma District was dissolved as a result of this merger. On June 1, 2009, the town of Yoshii (from Tano District) was merged into expanded city of Takasaki.[7]

Takasaki was elevated to a Core city with even greater autonomy on April 1, 2011.

Takasaki has a mayor-council form of government with a directly elected mayor and a unicameral city council of 38 members. Takasaki contributes nine members to the Gunma Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is divided between the Gunma 4th district and Gunma 5th district of the lower house of the Diet of Japan.

Takasaki is a regional commercial center and transportation hub, and is a major industrial center within Gunma Prefecture. Companies headquartered in Takasaki include:

• CUSCO Japan – automotive parts
• Yamada Denki – home appliance retailer

• Takasaki has sixty public elementary schools and 25 public middle schools operated by the city government and eight public high schools operated by the Gunma Prefecture Board of Education. In addition, the city operates one public high school and there are five private high schools. The prefecture also operates five special education schools for the handicapped.

• Takasaki Castle
• Mount Haruna
• Lake Haruna
• Haruna Shrine
• Minowa Castle
• The Museum of Modern Art, Gunma
• The sound of a suikinkutsu in the Suikintei Garden of former Yoshii town is designated as one of the 100 Soundscapes of Japan by the Ministry of the Environment [8]

• Arte Takasaki - football (soccer) club

Takasaki is twinned with:[9]

• Battle Creek, United States (1981)
• Muntinlupa, Philippines (2006)
• Plzeň, Czech Republic (1990)
• Santo André, Brazil (1981)

• Toll Yagami, musician (Buck-Tick)
• Yutaka Higuchi, musician (Buck-Tick)
• Takeo Fukuda, former Prime Minister of Japan
• Yasuo Fukuda, former Prime Minister of Japan
• Kyosuke Himuro, musician (Boøwy)
• Tomoyasu Hotei, musician (Boøwy)
• Fujio Masuoka, inventor of flash memory
• Kanai Mieko (born in Takasaki 1947), writer
• Hirofumi Nakasone, politician
• Yasuhiro Nakasone, former Prime Minister of Japan
• Kiyoshi Ogawa, Imperial Japanese Navy kamikaze pilot
• Hakubun Shimomura, politician
• German architect Bruno Taut lived for some time in Takasaki
• Kenji Tsukagoshi, navigator and aviator

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Takasaki, Gunma.

• Official Website (in Japanese)