Kanagawa Prefecture

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**Kanagawa Prefecture (神奈川県; *Kanagawa-ken*)**
Image:Japan Kanagawa large.png
Capital	Yokohama
Region	Kantō
Island	Honshū
Governor	Shigefumi Matsuzawa
Area	2,415.42 km² (43^rd)
- % water	2.3%
Population (January 1, 2000)
- Population	8,639,665 (3^rd)
- Density	3,577 /km²
Districts	7
Municipalities	35
ISO 3166-2	JP-14
Website	www.pref.kanagawa.jp/ menu/english.htm
Prefectural Symbols
- Flower	Golden-rayed lily (Lilium auratum)
- Tree	Ginkgo tree (Ginkgo biloba)
- Bird	Common gull (Larus canus)
Symbol of Kanagawa Prefecture

Kanagawa Prefecture (神奈川県, Kanagawa-ken^?) is a prefecture located in the southern Kantō region of Honshū, Japan. The capital is Yokohama. Kanagawa is part of the Greater Tokyo Area.

1 History
2 Geography
- 2.1 Cities
- 2.2 Towns and villages
3 Transportation
4 Culture
5 Tourism
6 Miscellaneous topics
7 External links

[edit] History

In medieval Japan, Kanagawa was part of the provinces of Sagami and Musashi.

Kamakura in central Sagami was the capital of Japan during the Kamakura period (1185-1333).

During the Edo period, the western part of Sagami Province was governed by the daimyo of Odawara Castle, while the eastern part was directly governed by the Tokugawa Shogunate in Edo (Tokyo).

Commodore Matthew Perry landed in Kanagawa in 1853 and 1854, and signed the Convention of Kanagawa to force open Japanese ports to the United States. Yokohama, the largest deep-water port in Tokyo Bay, was opened to foreign traders in 1859 after several more years of foreign pressure, and eventually developed into the largest trading port in Japan. Nearby Yokosuka, closer to the mouth of Tokyo Bay, developed as a naval port and now serves as headquarters for the U.S. 7th Fleet and the fleet operations of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force.

Yokohama, Kawasaki and other major cities were heavily damaged by the Great Kantō earthquake in 1923 and U.S. bombing in 1945.

[edit] Geography

Image:KanagawaMapCurrent.png Kanagawa is a relatively small prefecture wedged between Tokyo on the north, the foothills of Mount Fuji on the northwest, and the Pacific Ocean and Tokyo Bay on the south and east. The eastern side of the prefecture is relatively flat and heavily urbanized, including the large port cities of Yokohama and Kawasaki, but becomes more relaxed to the southeast, near the Miura Peninsula, where the ancient city of Kamakura draws tourists to its temples and shrines. The western part is more mountainous and includes resort areas like Odawara and Hakone.

The Tama River forms much of the boundary between Kanagawa and Tokyo. The Sagami River flows through the middle of the prefecture.

[edit] Cities

Nineteen cities are located in Kanagawa Prefecture:

[edit] Towns and villages

* To be dissolved in the near future.

[edit] Transportation

Kanagawa's transport network is heavily intertwined with that of Tokyo (see: Transportation in Greater Tokyo). Most air travel to Kanagawa goes through Tokyo International Airport or Narita International Airport. The Tōkaidō Shinkansen provides high-speed rail service to Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka and other major cities.

[edit] Culture

Image:Tsunami by hokusai 19th century.jpg

One of the most famous Ukiyo-e paintings is In the Hollow of a Wave off the Coast at Kanagawa by Hokusai.
Where popular anime show S-CRY-ed takes place.
Hinata, a fictional town from the Love Hina series lies somewhere in Kanagawa.
The popular anime show Elfen Lied takes place in the city of Kamakura.
Where most of the events of the manga Slam Dunk took place.
Where popular anime and manga series Kare Kano takes place.
The setting of Tsukihime, most of them in the area of Misaki.
The students in the film version of Battle Royale live in Shiroiwa, a fictional town in the Kanagawa Prefecture (the original novel and the manga set the town in the rural Kagawa Prefecture)