Chiba Prefecture

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**Chiba Prefecture (千葉県 *Chiba-ken*)**

Capital	Chiba
Region	Kantō
Island	Honshū
Governor	Akiko Domoto
Area	5,156.15 km² (27^th)
- % water	0.8%
Population (2000)
- Population	6,006,185 (6^th)
- Density	1,165 /km²
Districts	6
Municipalities	57
ISO 3166-2	JP-12
Website	http://www.pref.chiba.jp/ english/index.html
Prefectural Symbols
- Flower	Rape blossom (Brassica rapa var. amplexicaulis)
- Tree	Kusamaki (Podocarpus macrophyllus)
- Bird	Hoojiro (Meadow Bunting, Emberiza cioides)
Symbol of Chiba Prefecture

Chiba Prefecture (千葉県, Chiba-ken^?) is located in the Greater Tokyo Area of Honshū Island, Japan. Its capital is Chiba City.

1 History
2 Geography
- 2.1 Cities
- 2.2 Towns and villages
3 Mergers during the 2000s
4 Economy
5 Demographics
6 Culture
- 6.1 Chiba in popular culture
7 Sports
8 Tourism
9 Prefectural symbols
10 External links

Chiba Prefecture was established on June 15, 1873 with the merger of Kisarazu Prefecture and Inba Prefecture. Historically, the prefecture constituted three provinces of Awa, Kazusa, and Shimousa.

Boso Peninsula.

Map of Chiba Prefecture.

Chiba borders Ibaraki Prefecture to the north at the Tone River, Tokyo and Saitama Prefecture to the west at the Edo River, the Pacific Ocean to the east and Tokyo Bay around its southern boundary. Most of Chiba lies on the hilly Boso Peninsula, a rice farming region: the east coast, known as the Ninety-Nine League Plain, is an especially productive area. The most populous zone, in the northwest of the prefecture, is part of the Kantō region that extends into the urban agglomeration of Tokyo and Saitama. The Kuroshio Current flows near Chiba, which keep it relatively warm in winter and cooler in summer than neighbouring Tokyo.

Thirty-six cities are located in Chiba Prefecture:

Abikoǂ
Asahi
Chiba (capital)

Chūō-ku

Hanamigawa-ku

Inage-ku

Midori-ku

Mihama-ku

Wakaba-ku

ǂ Scheduled to be dissolved after mergers.

These are the towns and villages in each district:

Awa District

Kyonan

Chosei District

Inba District

Isumi District

Onjuku

Otaki

Katori District

Kozaki

Tako

Tonosho

Sanbu District

June 6, 2003 - The city of Noda absorbed the town of Sekiyado. (Merger information page)
February 11, 2005 - the old city of Kamogawa merged with the town of Amatsukominato to form the city of Kamogawa.
March 28, 2005 - The city of Kashiwa absorbed the town of Shonan. (Merger information page)
July 1, 2005 - The old city of Asahi and the towns of Hikata, Iioka, and Unakami merged to form the city of Asahi. (Merger information page)
December 5, 2005 - The towns of Isumi, Misaki and Ohara merged to form the new city of Isumi.
January 23, 2006, the city of Yokaichiba and the town of Nosaka merged, forming the city of Sosa.
March 20, 2006 - The municipalities of Tomiura, Tomiyama, Miyoshi, Shirahama, Chikura, Maruyama and Wada merged, forming the city of Minamiboso.
March 27, 2006 - The city of Narita absorbed the towns of Shimofusa and Taiei.

The city of Sawara and the towns of Omigawa, Yamada and Kurimoto merged, forming the city of Katori.

The towns of Sanbu, Naruto, Hasunuma and Matsuo merged to form the city of Sanmu.

The towns of Hikari and Yokoshiba from Sanbu District merged, forming the town of Yokoshibahikari.

Chiba is one of Japan's largest industrial areas, thanks to its long coastline on Tokyo Bay. After Chiba was chosen as the site for a major Kawasaki Steel factory in 1950, the prefectural government embarked on a large-scale land reclamation program that dredged up large plots of waterfront property for factories, warehouses, and docks. Chemical production, petrochemical refining, and machine production are the three main industries in Chiba today: together, they account for forty-five percent of the prefecture's exports. In recent years, the government has funded more than eighty industrial parks to bring development further inland as well.

The prefecture also boasts Japan's second-highest agricultural output: among all the prefectures, only Hokkaidō produces more agricultural products, and Chiba leads Hokkaidō in vegetable production. Chiba's fisheries are also productive, catching many of Japan's spiny lobster^{[citation needed]}. Seaweed is harvested in large quantities from Tokyo Bay.

Chiba's population is one of the wealthiest in Japan due to the prefecture's strong commercial and industrial sectors. Per capita GDP is ¥3.1 million (US$28,600), the fifth-highest in the country. 70% of the population is employed in the service sector, with 25% in industry and 5% in agriculture.

Novels set in Chiba include: Neuromancer by William Gibson (set in Chiba city), Ningen Shikkaku by Osamu Dazai (Funabashi), and Nogiku no Haka by Sachio Itō (Matsudo).
Manga (comics) representations include: Be Free!, Chameleon, Kyō Kara Ore wa!!, Makuhari (set in Chiba city), Makuhari Saboten Campus (Chiba city), Susume!! Pirates, and Urayasu Tekkin Kazoku (Urayasu).
Anime (animation) representations include: Chikyū Bōei Kazoku (set in Funabashi), Battle Programmer Shirase (Narashino), and Zegapain (Urayasu).
TV series representations include: Kisarazu Cats Eye (set in Kisarazu), Mio Tsukushi (Chōshi), Beach Boys (filmed in Tateyama and Shirahama and Yappari Neko ga Suki (Chiba city).
Various rock bands have roots that stem from the Chiba prefecture, including the popular X Japan, Plastic Tree and punk bands like Nicotine and Ellegarden .

The sports teams listed below are based in Chiba.

Football (soccer)

Baseball

Chiba Lotte Marines

Rugby

Most Tokyo-bound visitors land in Narita International Airport, which is situated in Narita in the north of the prefecture, and connected to Tokyo by the JR Narita Express and the private Keisei Electric Railway.

The Tokyo Disney Resort is located in Urayasu near the western border of the prefecture.

Chiba is linked to Tokyo by several railway lines: the main trunk lines are the Keiyo Line and Sobu Line. The Musashino Line connects Chiba to Saitama and northern Tokyo. Southern Chiba is connected to Kanagawa Prefecture by the Tokyo Wan Aqua-Line bridge-tunnel.

Chiba's Meibutsu (名物 lit: famous thing) is peanuts. Most of Japan's peanuts are harvested here and are also processed into peanut oils.