Kita, Tokyo

Kita

北区
Kita 北区
Special ward
	Kita City
	Asukayama Park in Ōji, Kita, Tokyo
	Flag Emblem
	Location of Kita in Tokyo Metropolis
	Kita Location in Japan
	Coordinates: 35°45′N 139°44′E / 35.750°N 139.733°E
Country	Japan
Region	Kantō
Prefecture	Tokyo Metropolis
Government
• Mayor	Kanako Yamada (from April 27, 2023)
Area
• Total	20.61 km2 (7.96 sq mi)
Population (October 1, 2020)
• Total	355,213
• Density	17,234/km2 (44,640/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+09:00 (JST)
Website	www.city.kita.tokyo.jp
Symbols
Flower	Rhododendron
Tree	Cherry blossom

Kita (北区, Kita-ku, "Northern ward") is a special ward in the Tokyo Metropolis in Japan. The English translation of its Japanese self-designation is City of Kita. The ward was founded on March 15, 1947.

As of May 1, 2015, the ward has an estimated population of 340,287, and a population density of 16,510 persons per km². The total area is 20.61 km².

Districts and neighborhoods

Akabane-Iwabuchi Area^[a]

Ōji Area^[a]

Takinogawa Area^[b]

Notes

^ ^a ^b Formerly part of the pre-1946 Ward of Ōji.
^ Formerly part of the pre-1946 Ward of Takinogawa.

History

The area was a collection of rural villages and towns until the 1880s, when it was connected by rail to central Tokyo (Oji Station opening in 1883). Parts of the area joined Tokyo City in 1932 as the Ōji (former Ōji and Iwabuchi towns) and Takinogawa (former Takinogawa town) Wards. Kita was officially formed in 1947 by the merger of these wards.^[2]

Geography

The name Kita, meaning "north," reflects the location among the wards of Tokyo. To its north lie the cities of Kawaguchi and Toda in Saitama Prefecture. To the east, south and west lie other special wards: Adachi, Arakawa, Itabashi, Bunkyō, and Toshima.

Four rivers run through Kita:

Famous sites

Asukayama Park^[3]
Chūō Park (formerly Camp Oji)
Kyu-Furukawa Gardens,^[4] designated a National Place of Scenic Beauty.
Nanushi-no-taki Park^[5]
Oji Shrine,^[6]^[7] one of the Tokyo Ten Shrines (東京十社, Tokyo Jissha).^[8]
Oji Inari shrine^[9]
Ukima Park

Economy

The head office of Seiyu Group is in Kita.^[10]

Education

The city's public elementary and middle schools are operated by the City of Kita Board of Education.

The city's public high schools are operated by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Board of Education.

Asuka High School [ja] (東京都立飛鳥高等学校)
Akabane Commercial High School [ja] (東京都立赤羽商業高等学校)
Kirigaoka High School [ja] (東京都立桐ケ丘高等学校)
Oji Technical High School [ja] (東京都立王子総合高等学校)

The following private domestic schools are in the ward:

Joshi Seigakuin Junior & Senior High School (for girls) – Nakazato^[11]
Seigakuin Junior & Senior High School (for boys) – Nakazato [ja]^[12]

The following international schools are in the ward:

École Internationale Franco-Japonaise 東京日仏国際学園 EIFJ Tokyo (French-English-Japanese)
Lycée Français International de Tokyo (French)
Tokyo Korean Junior and Senior High School (North Korean)

The following universities are in the ward:

Transportation

Rail

JR East
- Tōhoku Main Line, Takasaki Line, Utsunomiya Line: Oku, Akabane Stations
- Saikyō Line (Akabane Line): Itabashi, Jujo, Akabane, Kita Akabane, Ukima Funado Stations
- Keihin-Tōhoku Line: Tabata, Kami Nakazato, Ōji, Higashi Jujo, Akabane Stations
- Yamanote Line: Tabata Station
Tokyo Metropolitan Bureau of Transportation Tokyo Sakura Tram: Nishigahara-yonchome, Takinogawa-ichome, Asukayama, Oji-ekimae, Sakaecho, Kajiwara Stations
Tokyo Metro Namboku Line: Nishigahara, Ōji, Ōji Kamiya, Shimo, Akabane Iwabuchi Stations
Saitama Rapid Railway Line (Sainokuni Stadium Line): Akabane-Iwabuchi Station

Highways

Shuto Expressway C2 Central Loop (Itabashi JCT – Kasai JCT)
Route 17 (Nakasendō)

Notable people from Kita

Kōbō Abe, Japanese writer, playwright, musician, photographer, inventor and novelist
Kyoko Fukada, model, actress, and singer
Megumi Hayashibara, seiyuu, musician, singer, writer, radio DJ and TV talk show host, certified nurse
Hikaru Ijuin, radio and television personality
Elephant Kashimashi, rock band^[13]
Kiyoshi Kodama, actor and TV personality
KOHH, rapper (Real Name: Yuki Chiba, Nihongo: 千葉雄喜, Chiba Yūki)
Yuichi Nakamaru, singer-songwriter, actor, television personality, radio host, and a member of KAT-TUN
Kazuya Yoshii, singer-songwriter and musician^[14] (The Yellow Monkey)

International relations

Kita has a sister city relationship with Xuanwu District, Beijing, China.

It is also twinned with the following cities in Japan.

References

^ "Population by District". Tokyo Statistical Yearbook. Retrieved July 15, 2022.
^ "歴史年表｜東京都北区". Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved April 28, 2015.
^ "Oji, a greenery historic town with budget-friendly attractions". Tokyo Travel. Retrieved December 21, 2017.
^ "Kyu Furukawa Gardens". Official Tokyo Travel Guide. Retrieved December 21, 2017.
^ "Oji, a greenery historic town with budget-friendly attractions". Tokyo Travel. Retrieved December 21, 2017.
^ "Oji Jinja Shrine". Official Tokyo Travel Guide. Retrieved December 21, 2017.
^ "Oji, a greenery historic town with budget-friendly attractions". Tokyo Travel. Retrieved December 21, 2017.
^ "Tokyo Ten Jinja Shrine". Retrieved December 21, 2017.
^ "Oji, a greenery historic town with budget-friendly attractions". Tokyo Travel. Retrieved December 21, 2017.
^ "Corporate Data Archived 2008-04-18 at the Wayback Machine." Seiyu Group. Retrieved on May 19, 2009.
^ "English." Joshi Seigakuin Junior & Senior High School. Retrieved on January 10, 2019. "Joshi Seigakuin Junior & Senior High School 3-12-2 Nakazato, Kita-ku, Tokyo 114-8574 JAPAN"
^ "English." Seigakuin Junior & Senior High School. Retrieved on January 10, 2019. "Seigakuin Junior & Senior High School 3-12-1 Nakazato, Kita-ku, Tokyo 114-8502 JAPAN"
^ "北区シティプロモーション事業「東京都北区赤羽×エレファントカシマシ」を開催！". Kita City. November 8, 2018. Retrieved January 5, 2020.^{[permanent dead link]}
^ "吉井和哉｜Yoshii Kazuya Official Website".

External links

Kita City Official Website (in Japanese)

[Oji-2] Formerly part of the pre-1946 Ward of Ōji.

[Takinogawa-3] Formerly part of the pre-1946 Ward of Takinogawa.

[1] "Population by District". Tokyo Statistical Yearbook. Retrieved July 15, 2022.

[4] "歴史年表｜東京都北区". Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved April 28, 2015.

[5] "Oji, a greenery historic town with budget-friendly attractions". Tokyo Travel. Retrieved December 21, 2017.

[6] "Kyu Furukawa Gardens". Official Tokyo Travel Guide. Retrieved December 21, 2017.

[7] "Oji, a greenery historic town with budget-friendly attractions". Tokyo Travel. Retrieved December 21, 2017.

[8] "Oji Jinja Shrine". Official Tokyo Travel Guide. Retrieved December 21, 2017.

[9] "Oji, a greenery historic town with budget-friendly attractions". Tokyo Travel. Retrieved December 21, 2017.

[10] "Tokyo Ten Jinja Shrine". Retrieved December 21, 2017.

[11] "Oji, a greenery historic town with budget-friendly attractions". Tokyo Travel. Retrieved December 21, 2017.

[12] "Corporate Data Archived 2008-04-18 at the Wayback Machine." Seiyu Group. Retrieved on May 19, 2009.

[About-13] "English." Joshi Seigakuin Junior & Senior High School. Retrieved on January 10, 2019. "Joshi Seigakuin Junior & Senior High School 3-12-2 Nakazato, Kita-ku, Tokyo 114-8574 JAPAN"

[14] "English." Seigakuin Junior & Senior High School. Retrieved on January 10, 2019. "Seigakuin Junior & Senior High School 3-12-1 Nakazato, Kita-ku, Tokyo 114-8502 JAPAN"

[15] "北区シティプロモーション事業「東京都北区赤羽×エレファントカシマシ」を開催！". Kita City. November 8, 2018. Retrieved January 5, 2020.^{[permanent dead link]}

[16] "吉井和哉｜Yoshii Kazuya Official Website".

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v t e Cities in Japan with a population of 200,000+
2,000,000 and more	Tokyo (capital) Yokohama Osaka Nagoya
1,000,000–1,999,999	Sapporo Fukuoka Kobe Kyoto Kawasaki Saitama Hiroshima Sendai
500,000–999,999	Kitakyushu Chiba Setagaya Sakai Niigata Hamamatsu Shizuoka Sagamihara Nerima Okayama Ōta Kumamoto Edogawa Adachi Kagoshima Funabashi Hachiōji Kawaguchi Himeji Suginami Itabashi Matsuyama Higashiōsaka Utsunomiya
200,000–499,999	Matsudo Nishinomiya Kurashiki Ichikawa, Chiba Oita Fukuyama Amagasaki Kanazawa Nagasaki Kōtō Katsushika Yokosuka Toyama Toyota Takamatsu Machida Gifu Hirakata Fujisawa Kashiwa Toyonaka Nagano Toyohashi Ichinomiya Wakayama Okazaki Miyazaki Nara Suita Takatsuki Shinagawa Asahikawa Iwaki Kochi Takasaki Kōriyama Tokorozawa Kawagoe Kita Akita Ōtsu Koshigaya Maebashi Naha Nakano, Tokyo Shinjuku Yokkaichi Aomori Kurume Kasugai Morioka Akashi Fukushima Tsu Shimonoseki Nagaoka Ichihara Hakodate Yao Ibaraki, Osaka Fukui Meguro Kakogawa Tokushima Mito Hiratsuka Toshima Yamagata Sasebo Fuchū, Tokyo Kure, Hiroshima Hachinohe Saga Neyagawa Sōka Sumida Fuji Kasukabe Chigasaki Matsumoto Atsugi Yamato Ageo Takarazuka Chōfu Ōta, Gunma Tsukuba Numazu Joetsu Shibuya Minato Kumagaya Isesaki Nishitokyo Kishiwada Tottori

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