Kakegawa, Shizuoka Prefecture, Chūbu Region, Japan

🇯🇵 Kakegawa (掛川市, Kakegawa-shi) is a city in western Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. The total area of the city is 265.69 square km (102.58 sq mi).

Geography Kakegawa is in the coastal plains of south-west Shizuoka Prefecture. It is bordered to the south by the Pacific Ocean, and extends for approximately 30 km north-south by 16 km east-west.

Surrounding municipalities Shizuoka Prefecture ◦ Fukuroi; ◦ Shimada; ◦ Mori; ◦ Kikugawa; ◦ Omaezaki.

Demographics Like most of Japan, Kakegawa's population is almost exclusively Japanese. However, Kakegawa has a noticeable Nikkei (particularly, South American) population and it is more common to find signs written in Portuguese than in English.

Per Japanese census data, the population of Kakegawa has been increasing over the past 50 years.

History The Kakegawa area has been regional commercial centre within Tōtōmi Province since at least the Kamakura period, but developed as a castle town under the Imagawa clan, whose headquarters was in neighboring Suruga Province. Kakegawa Castle was built by Asahina Yasuhiro, a retainer of Imagawa Yoshitada, in the Bunmei era (1469–1487). The castle later fell into the hands of the Tokugawa clan, but was then given to Toyotomi clan retainer Yamauchi Kazutoyo in 1580. After the establishment of the Tokugawa shogunate, Kakegawa Domain was created, and ruled by numerous fudai daimyō. The area prospered during the Edo period, as the Tōkaidō highway connecting Edo with Kyoto passed through Kakegawa, whose post stations included Nissaka-shuku and Kakegawa-juku. Neighboring Yokosuka Domain, a smaller fudai holding, was also located within what are now the city limits of Kakegawa.

After the Meiji Restoration, Kakegawa was made part of the short-lived Hamamatsu Prefecture in 1871, which merged with Shizuoka Prefecture in 1876. Kakegawa Town was created in the cadastral reform of April, 1891, four years after the opening of Kakegawa Station on what later became the Tōkaidō Main Line railway. The town expanded steadily over the years, annexing neighboring villages and towns in Ogasa District, and was elevated in status of that of a city in 1954.

On April 1, 2005, the towns of Daitō and Ōsuka (both from Ogasa District) were merged into Kakegawa.

Government Kakegawa has a mayor-council form of government with a directly elected mayor and a unicameral city legislature of 30 members.

Economy Kakegawa has a mixed economy. It serves as a regional commercial centre for west-central Shizuoka Prefecture. In the agricultural sector, production and processing of green tea predominates. The city is surrounded by green tea fields and is known for its high quality tea. Other crops include cantaloupe, tomatoes, strawberries and roses. In terms of industrial production, Kakegawa has several light industry industrial complexes. Major products include telecommunications equipment and electronics, cosmetics, automotive components and musical instruments.

Education • Tokyo Women's Medical University - Kakegawa campus • Kakegawa has 23 public elementary schools, and nine public middle schools operated by the city government and four public high schools operated by the Shizuoka Prefectural Board of Education. The prefecture also operates two special education schools for the handicapped. The city formerly hosted a Brazilian school, a primary school called Centro Educacional Sorriso de Criança.

Transport: Rail • Central Japan Railway Company - Tōkaidō Shinkansen • Central Japan Railway Company - Tōkaidō Main Line; ◦ Kakegawa • Tenryū Hamanako Railroad Tenryū Hamanako Line; ◦ Kakegawa • Kakegawa-shiyakusho-mae • Nishi-Kakegawa • Sakuragi • Ikoinohiroba • Hosoya • Haranoya • Harada • Towata •

Transport: Road • Tōmei Expressway • Shin-Tōmei Expressway • National Route 1 • National Route 150.

Local attractions • Kakegawa Castle, located only a few hundred meters from Kakegawa Station • Kakegawa Kacho-en, which hosts a large variety of bird and plant species in a greenhouse-enclosed private garden. • Yokosuka Castle, a National Historic Site • Takatenjin Castle ruins, a National Historic Site • Wadaoka Kofun group, a National Historic Site • Kotonomama Hachiman-gu, the ichinomiya of Tōtōmi Province.