Shizuoka, Shizuoka

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**Shizuoka**
**静岡市**
Shizuoka's location in Shizuoka, Japan.
Location
Country	Japan
Region	Chūbu
Prefecture	Shizuoka
Physical characteristics
Area	1,388.74 km² (536.2 sq mi)
Population (as of December 31, 2005)
Total	710,236
Density	517/km² (1,339/sq mi)
Location	34°59′N, 138°23′E
Symbols
Tree	Flowering Dogwood
Flower	Hollyhocks
Bird	Common Kingfisher
Shizuoka Government Office
Mayor	Zenkichi Kojima
Address	〒420-8602 5-1 Ōtemachi, Aoi-ku, Shizuoka-shi, Shizuoka-ken
Phone number	54-254-2111
Official website: City of Shizuoka

Shizuoka (静岡市, Shizuoka-shi^?) is the capital city of Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. It is a city designated by government ordinance (a "designated city").

As of 2005, the city has an estimated population of 710,236 and the density of 511.48 persons per km². The total area is 1,373.85 km².

Aoi-ku (former Shizuoka north of the Tōkaidō Main Line excluding Osada district)
Suruga-ku (former Shizuoka south of the Tōkaidō Main Line and Osada district)
Shimizu-ku (former city of Shimizu)

Sunpu Castle

The Toro archaeological site is an ancient village of the Yayoi period (circa 400BC-300AD) and is located in the Toro Historic Park in the city. Toro demonstrates that the area has been populated since ancient times.

Suruga was established as a province of Japan at least as far back as the Heian Era.

Imagawa Yoshimoto placed Sunpu (駿府) (a contraction of Suruga no Kokufu) at the heart of his domains during the Sengoku era. Under Imagawa, Tokugawa Ieyasu was brought up from the age of 5 as a hostage in exile. Ieyasu was eventually allowed to return home to Mikawa province, only to return in the 1575 to defeat Takeda Shingen, who had conquered Suruga in 1570. Tokugawa Ieyasu spent his youth in Sunpu as a hostage of Imagawa Yoshimoto. Ieyasu later retired to and died in Sunpu after his reign as shogun.

After abdicating as shogun in 1605 in favour of his son Hidetada, Ieyasu retired to Sunpu and spent the remainder of his life there. Later it was a fief of Tokugawa Tadanaga (a son of Ieyasu), and finally directly administered by the Shogunate.

After the fall of the shogunate, the former shogunal line, headed by Tokugawa Iesato, was briefly granted a 700,000 koku landholding there, before the abolitions of the domains in the early 1870s.

The city was founded on April 1, 1889.

The 2003 merger with the city of Shimizu (current Shimizu-ku) created the larger Shizuoka to gain government ordinance in 2005. Kanbara merged with Shizuoka on March 31, 2006, when it became a part of Shimizu Ward.

Shizuoka has 39,237 businesses as of 2004, placing it first in the prefecture.
Employment by industry: Agriculture 0.1%, Manufacturing: 26.9%, Service 73.0%

Green tea
Strawberries
Wasabi
Mandarin Oranges and other citrus fruits
Lotus Roots
Roses

Shimizu Port boasts largest the haul of tuna in all Japan. Kanbara Harbour enjoys a prosperous haul of sakura ebi. Mochimune Harbour enjoys a prosperous haul of shirasu sardines.

Abekawa Mochi (rice cakes in kinako soy flour) Plastic Toy Models

Oden
Gyoza
Soba noodles
Seafood
Zoni

Rice cakes in a broth cooked with vegetables, popular at New Year's.

Tororo

A grated yam soup. Chojiya, a tororo restaurant founded in 1598 in Mariko-juku area of Shizuoka, west of the Abe River, was made famous by Hiroshige when he depicted it in his series of ukiyoe prints of the 53 stops along the Tōkaidō, entitled The Fifty-three Stations of the Tōkaidō.

There are three main festivals on Shizuoka's calendar.

Shizuoka Matsuri (静岡祭り): The Cities April Festival during the high point of the year for Cherry Blossom, a flower-viewing procession, imitates the shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu's custom of taking daimyo (feudal lords) to Sengen Shrine to view the cherry blossoms [1].

Abekawa Hanabi (安倍川花火): A gigantic firework display held upstream of Shizuoka's Abe River in late July.

Daidogei (大道芸): Street Performance World Cup. Probably the biggest event on Shizuoka's Calendar, it is an annual International Busker's Festival, held in November. It includes various shows such as juggling, pantomime, magic, etc. Performers gather from Japan and abroad to create wonder and laughter here and there in the town. From 2005, it expanded from a 3-day to a 4-day festival.

The city also has a strong tradition of soccer. An example of this is its J. League club Shimizu S-Pulse.

Shizuoka Festiva: April.

Shizuoka lies on the JR main rail line from Tokyo to Osaka "Tōkaidō Main Line" and is well served by the Tōkaidō Shinkansen, limited express and regional trains. Central station of Shizuoka is close to the city centre. Shizuoka also has a LRT line "Shizuoka Railway".

To allow for growth in air travel to Shizuoka, Shizuoka Airport is currently under construction and expected to be completed and operational by March, 2009. This location is between Makinohara and Shimada.

The Shizuoka Shimbun is the area's primary newspaper.

NHK Shizuoka (Analogue Channel 9; Digital Channel 1)

NHK Shizuoka Educational Channel (Analogue Channel 2; Digital Channel 2)

SBS “Shizuoka Broadcasting” (Analogue Channel 11; Digital Channel 6)
Terebi Shizuoka “Television Shizuoka” (Analogue Channel 35; Digital Channel 8)
Shizuoka Dai-ichi Terebi “Shizuoka First Television” (Analogue Channel 31; Digital Channel 4)
Shizuoka Asahi Terebi “Shizuoka Asahi Television” (Analogue Channel 33; Digital Channel 5)

Shizuoka Cable Television (Dream Wave Shizuoka)