Ichikawa

Iwaki (いわき) is a city in Japan. It is located within the Fukushima Prefecture. The city is in the south-east corner of the prefecture and the southern part of the city joins the Ibaraki Prefecture. It is designated a core city. A core city is a city that is given power to carry out functions normally done by the prefecture itself. In order to qualify for this a city must have between 300,000 to 500,000 with a total land area of 100 square kilometers or more. The cities population is 353,866 spread out over 1,231 square kilometers. The city flower is the Azalea and the tree is the Japanese Black Pine.

The economy partially depends on tourism, but Industry is the biggest producer in the city. There are over 800 factories in the area that create revenue of over 1 trillion yen. Commerce is following closely behind with 4,677 establishments with total sales revenue of over 800 billion yen. This is excluding restaurants and other food sales places. Primary markets such as agricultural are important in this area. There are over 36,370 farmers in this area. This region specializes in fishing and seafood industries and has several electric and even nuclear power plants. The upland regions focus more on agriculture. This area is noted for its electronics and software industries as well.

History

The city was incorporated in October of 1966. During the war this area was not a focus point of Allied Forces. The Tagokura Power Station was constructed in 1959 in this area. This station served as a vital component of the industrial infrastructure for the past and the present. This led to the construction of nuclear power stations in this region.

Points of Interest

The Iwaki Odori festival is held in August in different places. It was introduced in 1981 to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the establishment of the city. It is held annually and is worth checking out. It is held in different places, but the finale is always in the city center. Hundreds of teams from local organizations, schools, universities and children's organization all danced to live music.

The Iwaki Coastal Prefectural Nature Park includes a majority of the coastal area to the north. There are many living creatures inhabiting the beautiful shores, beaches and the sea grass beds along the coastline. Close to the inlands the area around the Natsuigawa River Gorge, Mount Mizuishiyama and the Kodamagawa River are part of the Natsuigawa River Prefectural Nature Park. There are many camping grounds and observation points that many people enjoy.

External Links

• Ichikawa Official Website (English)
• Ichikawa Official Website (Japanese)