Misplaced Pages

#765234

39-477: Takasaki is located in the southwestern part of Gunma Prefecture in the flat northwestern part of the Kantō Plain . The city is located approximately 90 to 100 kilometers from central Tokyo . Mount Akagi , Mount Haruna and Mount Myogi can be seen from the city, and the southern slopes of Mount Haruna are within the city limits. The Tone River , Karasu River and Usui River flow through the city. Although Takasaki

78-612: A mayor-council form of government with a directly elected mayor and a unicameral city council of 38 members. Takasaki contributes nine members to the Gunma Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is divided between the Gunma 4th district and Gunma 5th district of the lower house of the Diet of Japan . Source:Takasaki City Takasaki is a regional commercial center and transportation hub, and

117-414: A geographic area of 6,362 km (2,456 sq mi ). Gunma Prefecture borders Niigata Prefecture and Fukushima Prefecture to the north, Nagano Prefecture to the southwest, Saitama Prefecture to the south, and Tochigi Prefecture to the east. Maebashi is the capital and Takasaki is the largest city of Gunma Prefecture, with other major cities including Ōta , Isesaki , and Kiryū . Gunma Prefecture

156-448: A pilot city to test out upcoming changes to the nationwide English curriculum; the changes were modeled after the existing Takasaki curriculum. It was decided that the changes would officially begin in stages; primary schools would adapt the new curriculum nationwide in 2020, middle schools in 2021, and secondary schools in 2022. In 2019, MEXT did a survey to see how both primary and middle school students were performing in all subjects at

195-402: A system, the mayor's administrative staff often prepares the city budget, although that budget must be approved by the council. The mayor may also have veto rights over council votes, with the council able to override such a veto. Conversely, in a weak-mayor system, the mayor has no formal authority outside the council, serving a largely ceremonial role as council chairperson and is elected by

234-500: A week, while 5th and 6th grades have proper English lessons twice a week. This totals 35 hours (only 34 for 1st grade) of English education for 1st through 4th graders and 70 hours for 5th and 6h graders. The main emphasis on primary school English in Takasaki is communication; students are actively encouraged to listen to authentic English and express themselves to their peers. In order to achieve this, Mayor Tomioka pushed to increase

273-509: Is 14.0 °C (57.2 °F). The average annual rainfall is 1,354.9 mm (53.34 in), with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 25.8 °C (78.4 °F), and lowest in January, at around 2.6 °C (36.7 °F). Per Japanese census data, the population of Takasaki has recently plateaued after a long period of growth. During

312-544: Is a major industrial center within Gunma Prefecture. Companies headquartered in Takasaki include CUSCO Japan , an automotive parts manufacturer, and Yamada Denki , a home appliance retailer. Takasaki has over sixty public elementary schools and 25 public middle schools operated by the city government and eight public high schools operated by the Gunma Prefecture Board of Education. In addition,

351-532: Is located over 100 kilometers from the coast, much of the city is low-lying, and the elevation of the city hall and central city area is only 97 meters above sea level. The land rises to the northern and western parts of the city to a maximum elevation of 1690 meters. Gunma Prefecture Nagano Prefecture Saitama Prefecture Takasaki has a Humid continental climate (Köppen Cwa ) characterized by warm summers and cold, windy winters ( karakkaze ) with occasional snowfall. The average annual temperature in Takasaki

390-576: Is of a differing length and plays a different song. Naganohara also used to be home to a Melody Road playing " Aj lučka, lučka široká ", though the road in question was paved over in 2013 due to noise complaints. The sports teams listed below are based in Gunma. Gunma is also famous for its ski resorts in the mountains. Gunma was the only prefecture in Japan to have all 4 legal types of gambling on races: horse , bicycle , auto and boat . This changed with

429-421: Is one of only eight landlocked prefectures, located on the northwestern corner of the Kantō Plain with 14% of its total land being designated as natural parks . The ancient province of Gunma was a center of horse breeding and trading activities for the newly immigrated continental peoples (or Toraijin ). The arrival of horses and the remains of horse tackle coincides with the arrival of a large migration from

SECTION 10

#1732775903766

468-415: Is one of the leading producers of wheat in all of Japan. As such, dishes that utiliize wheat flour play in important role in local food culture. Takasaki is said to have many pasta shops per capita and in recent years has been called the pasta town. Since 2009, Takasaki has held an annual competition called King of Pasta; citizens can buy mini portions of pasta dishes from participating restaurants and vote for

507-858: Is to the south. Some of the major mountains in Gunma are Mount Akagi , Mount Haruna , Mount Myōgi , Mount Nikkō-Shirane and Mount Asama , which is located on the Nagano border. Major rivers include the Tone River , the Agatsuma River , and the Karasu River . As of 1 April 2012, 14% of the total land area of the prefecture was designated as Natural Parks , namely Jōshin'etsu-kōgen , Nikkō , and Oze National Parks and Myōgi-Arafune-Saku Kōgen Quasi-National Park . Twelve cities are located in Gunma Prefecture: These are

546-778: The Edo period , the area of present-day Takasaki was the center of the Takasaki Domain , a feudal domain held by a branch of the Matsudaira clan under the Tokugawa shogunate in Kōzuke Province . The area also prospered from its location on the Nakasendō highway connecting Edo with Kyoto . Post stations located within the borders of modern Takasaki were: Shinmachi-shuku , Kuragano-shuku , and Takasaki-shuku . Following

585-675: The Meiji Restoration , Takasaki was briefly capital of Gunma Prefecture, before the capital was moved to Maebashi in 1881. Takasaki Town was created within Gunma District, Gunma on April 1, 1889 with the creation of the modern municipalities system. It was raised to city status on April 1, 1900. On April 1, 1927, Takasaki annexed the neighboring villages of Tsukasawa and Kataoka, followed by Sano on October 1, 1937. The city largely escaped damage in World War II. Following

624-539: The 1870s. In the early Meiji period, in what was locally called the Gunma Incident of 1884, a bloody struggle between the idealistic democratic westernizers and the conservative Prussian-model nationalists took place in Gunma and neighboring Nagano. The modern Japanese army gunned down farmers with new repeating rifles built in Japan. The farmers in Gunma were said to be the first victims of the Murata rifle . In

663-458: The Dead , the main character Akira Tendo is from Gunma Prefecture. Mayor-council Executive mayor elected by the people, elected legislative City council Council - Manager Executive leader elected by the council from among themselves Elected mayor and cabinet Executive mayor elected by the people Committee system Executive leader and executive committees elected by

702-632: The Prefectural Government also uses Gunma-chan , a small super deformed drawing of a horse character wearing a green cap. It is used on promotional posters, banners, and other notable printed materials from the Prefectural Government. Other agencies and companies formally or informally use variations of its likeness and other horse-shaped characters when making signs or notices for work on buildings, roads, and other public notices. There are various manga and anime that have based their settings in Gunma, such as: In Zom 100: Bucket List of

741-530: The best one. Takasaki is twinned with: Singaporean actress Jeanette Aw became an official PR ambassador for the city after starring in Ramen Teh , which was set and filmed in Takasaki. Gunma Prefecture Gunma Prefecture ( 群馬県 , Gunma-ken ) is a landlocked prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu . Gunma Prefecture has a population of 1,937,626 (1 October 2019) and has

780-414: The city operates one public high school and there are five private high schools. The prefecture also operates five special education schools for the handicapped. Takasaki developed its own unique English curriculum and implemented it at all of the primary and middle schools in the city. Primary school students in 1st through 4th grades have English lessons (formally called 'foreign language activities') once

819-472: The closing of the last horse race track in Takasaki in 2004. Gunma has many hot spring resorts and the most famous is Kusatsu Onsen . Another draw to the mountainous Gunma is the ski resorts. Other attractions include: The prefectural symbol consists of the first kanji of the word 'Gunma' surrounded by three stylized mountains symbolizing the three important mountains of Gunma Prefecture: Mount Haruna , Mount Akagi , and Mount Myōgi . For marketing,

SECTION 20

#1732775903766

858-469: The council from among themselves A mayor–council government is a system of local government in which a mayor who is directly elected by the voters acts as chief executive, while a separately elected city council constitutes the legislative body. It is one of the two most common forms of local government in the United States , and is the form most frequently adopted in large cities, although

897-523: The early period of contact between western nations and Japan, particularly the late Tokugawa, it was referred to by foreigners as the "Joushu States", inside (fudai, or loyalist) Tokugawa retainers and the Tokugawa family symbol is widely seen on public buildings, temples, and shrines. The Tenmei eruption of Mount Asama occurred in 1783, causing enormous damage. The first modern silk factories were built with Italian and French assistance at Annaka in

936-419: The eruption through zoological anthropology at the corral sites that were buried in ash. In the past, Gunma was joined with Tochigi Prefecture and called Kenu Province . This was later divided into Kami-tsu-ke (Upper Kenu, Gunma) and Shimo-tsu-ke (Lower Kenu, Tochigi). The area is sometimes referred to as Jomo (上毛, Jōmō ). For most of Japanese history, Gunma was known as the province of Kozuke . In

975-627: The farms in the village of Tsumagoi are cabbage farms. Also, the city of Ōta is famous for the car industry, notably the Subaru factory. There is a local dialect , known in Japanese as ' gunma-ben ' or ' jōshū-ben '. Gunma has a traditional card game called Jomo Karuta ( 上毛かるた ) . It features people, places, and things of regional and/or cultural importance. In 2007, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries held an event to find

1014-460: The high peaks do not let the wind go past them. For this reason, the wind changes into the kara-kaze . Gunma's modern industries include transport equipment and electrical equipment, concentrated around Maebashi and the eastern region nearest Tokyo . More traditional industries include sericulture and agriculture . Gunma's major agricultural products include cabbages and konnyaku . Gunma produces over 90% of Japan's konnyaku, and two-thirds of

1053-517: The mainland. From this point forward, the horse became a vital part of Japanese military maneuvers, quickly displacing the older Yayoi tradition of fighting on foot. When Mount Haruna erupted in the late 6th century, Japan was still in the pre-historical phase (prior to the importation of the Chinese writing system during the Nara period). The Gunma Prefectural archaeology unit in 1994 was able to date

1092-456: The name of Subaru née Fuji Heavy Industries. In the 1930s, German architect Bruno Julius Florian Taut lived and conducted research for a while in Takasaki. The Girard incident , which disturbed US-Japanese relations in the 1950s, occurred in Gunma in 1957, at Sōmagahara Base  [ ja ] near Shibukawa . Four modern prime ministers are from Gunma, namely, Takeo Fukuda , Yasuhiro Nakasone , Keizo Obuchi , and Yasuo Fukuda ,

1131-474: The number of Assistant Language Teachers in the city. Commonly referred to as ALTs, they are native English speakers hired from abroad to come and assist Japanese teachers during English class. Takasaki employs many ALTs through The JET Program . Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Takasaki had at least 1 ALT assigned to every primary and middle school in the city. The Takasaki Board of Education claims that Takasaki

1170-543: The other common form, council–manager government , is the local government form of more municipalities. The form may be categorized into two main variations depending on the relative power of the mayor compared to the council, the strong-mayor variant and the weak-mayor variant. In a typical strong-mayor system, the elected mayor is granted almost total administrative authority with the power to appoint and dismiss department heads, although some city charters or prevailing state law may require council ratification. In such

1209-692: The prefectural level. It was found that students in Gunma Prefecture placed in the top 6 prefectures across all subjects, and for the first time tied with Tokyo for first place in English. [REDACTED] JR East – Hokuriku Shinkansen [REDACTED] JR East – Jōetsu Shinkansen [REDACTED] JR East – Takasaki Line , Shōnan-Shinjuku Line , Ueno-Tokyo Line [REDACTED] JR East – Jōetsu Line [REDACTED] JR East – Shinetsu Main Line [REDACTED] Jōshin Dentetsu Gunma

Takasaki - Misplaced Pages Continue

1248-604: The son of Takeo. One of only eight landlocked prefectures in Japan, Gunma is the northwesternmost prefecture of the Kantō plain. Except for the central and southeast areas, where most of the population is concentrated, it is mostly mountainous. To the north are Niigata and Fukushima prefectures, while to the east lies Tochigi Prefecture . To the west lies the Nagano Prefecture , and the Saitama Prefecture

1287-544: The top 100 best local dishes across all of Japan. Three dishes were featured from Gunma; yaki-manju, okkirikomi , and konnyaku . As of 2018, Gunma is home to eleven of Japan's over thirty Melody Roads . 2,559 grooves cut into a 175-meter stretch of the road surface in transmit a tactile vibration through the wheels into the car body . The roads can be found in Katashina, Minakami, Takayama, Kanna, Ueno, Kusatsu, Tsumagoi, Nakanojo, Takasaki, Midori, and Maebashi. Each

1326-447: The town of Shinmachi (from Tano District ) were merged into Takasaki. On October 1, 2006, the town of Haruna (from Gunma District ) was merged into the expanded city of Takasaki. Gunma District was dissolved as a result of this merger. On June 1, 2009, the town of Yoshii (from Tano District ) was merged into expanded city of Takasaki. Takasaki was elevated to a Core city with even greater autonomy on April 1, 2011. Takasaki has

1365-516: The towns and villages in each district : Because Gunma is situated in inland Japan, the difference in temperature in the summer compared to the winter is large, and there is less precipitation. This is because of the karakkaze ("empty wind"), a strong, dry wind that occurs in the winter when the snow falls on the coasts of Niigata. The wind carrying clouds with snow are obstructed by the Echigo Mountains , and it also snows there, although

1404-540: The twentieth century, the Japanese aviation pioneer Nakajima Chikushi of Oizumi, Gunma Prefecture, founded the Nakajima Aircraft Company . At first, he produced mostly licensed models of foreign designs, but beginning with the all-Japanese Nakajima 91 fighter plane in 1931, his company became a world leader in aeronautical design and manufacture, with its headquarters at Ota, Gunma Ken. The factory now produces Subaru motorcars and other products under

1443-436: The village of Gunnan was annexed. In September 1987, five-year-old Yoshiaki Ogiwara, the son of a local firefighter, was abducted and subsequently murdered in Takasaki. The murder received heavy media coverage across Japan. On April 1, 2001 Takasaki was proclaimed a Special City (Tokurei-shi) , which gave it greater autonomy. On January 23, 2006, the towns of Gunma , Kurabuchi and Misato (all from Gunma District ), and

1482-417: The war, it continued to expand its borders by annexing the village of Rokugo on April 1, 1951, Shintakao and Nakamura as well as Yawata and Toyooka from Ushi District on January 20, 1955. This was followed by Orui village and Sano village from Tano District on September 30, 1956. The city celebrated its 360th anniversary in 1963 and annexed the town of Kuragano on March 31 of the same year. On September 1, 1965

1521-409: Was the first in all of Japan to have English lessons starting in 1st grade, to have English twice a week for older students, and to assign at least 1 ALT to every school. In 2014, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (also abbreviated as MEXT) acknowledged the need to increase students' English ability in order to succeed globally. In 2016, MEXT then designated Takasaki as

#765234