Kamagaya, Chiba Prefecture, Kantō Region, Japan

🇯🇵 Kamagaya (鎌ヶ谷市, Kamagaya-shi) is a city located in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. As of 1 December 2020, the city had an estimated population density of 5200 persons per km². The total area of the city is 21.08 km² (8.14 sq mi).

Geography Kamagaya is located in the north-western corner of Chiba Prefecture, approximately 20 km from the prefectural capital of Chiba. It is located on the Shimōsa Plateau, with an elevation of seven to thirty meters above sea level. The Otsu River, which flows into Lake Teganuma, is in the north, and the Okashiwa and Nego Rivers, and the tributaries of the Ebi River, flow into Tokyo Bay, to the south. The 140th east meridian line runs through the centre of the city.

Neighboring municipalities Chiba Prefecture • Kashiwa • Shiroi • Matsudo • Ichikawa • Funabashi.

Demographics Per Japanese census data, Kamagaya's population experienced rapid growth in the late 20th century and has plateaued in the early 21st.

History The area around Kamagaya has been inhabited since prehistory, and archaeologists have found Jōmon period shell middens in the area. During the Kamakura period, the area was controlled by the Sōma clan. Kamagaya flourished in the Edo period 1603–1868 when the area was largely tenryō territory within Shimōsa Province controlled directly by the Tokugawa shogunate. One part of present-day Kamagaya was part of the Kogane Ranch, which raised war horses for the army of the Tokugawa shogunate. In the Edo period Kamagaya was also a thriving shukuba post on the Kioroshi Road, which connected present-day Inzai on the Tone River to Edogawa-ku in Tokyo. The road was utilized to bring fresh fish and other marine products from the Tone River region to the capital Edo. After the Meiji Restoration, it became part of Chiba Prefecture. Kamagaya Village was one of several villages created on April 1, 1889 under Inba District with the establishment of the modern municipalities system. In 1945, the Imperial Japanese Army appropriated the former Musashino Country Club, turning the golf course into an air field. The base was turned over to the United States Air Force after World War II, becoming Shiroi Air Base, and was transferred to the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force in 1959, becoming JMSDF Shimofusa Air Base. Kamagaya became a town on August 1, 1968, and was elevated to city status on September 1, 1971.

Government Kamagaya has a mayor-council form of government with a directly elected mayor and a unicameral city council of 24 members. Kamagaya contributes two members to the Chiba Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is part of Chiba 13th district of the lower house of the Diet of Japan.

Economy Kamagaya, formerly a farming area, is now a regional commercial center. Due to its numerous train connections it serves as a transportation hub and bedroom community for nearby Chiba and Tokyo. Kamagaya's trademark produce is the round, Nashi Pear, and there are many pear orchards dotted about the city, whose white blossoms open toward the end of the cherry blossom season.

Education Kamagaya has nine public elementary schools and five public middle schools operated by the city government, and two public high schools operated by the Chiba Prefectural Board of Education.

Transport: Rail Tobu Railway - Tobu Noda Line • Shin-Kamagaya - Kamagaya; Shin-Keisei Electric Railway - Shin-Keisei Line • Kunugiyama - Kita-Hatsutomi - Shin-Kamagaya - Hatsutomi - Kamagaya-Daibutsu; Hokusō Railway - Hokusō Line • Shin-Kamagaya; Keisei Electric Railway - Narita Sky Access • Shin-Kamagaya.

Transport: Road • National Route 464.

Local attractions • Kamagaya Daibutsu.