Kanagawa Prefecture
is a
prefecture located in the southern
Kanto region of
Honshu,
Japan. The capital is
Yokohama. Kanagawa is part of the
Greater Tokyo Area.
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 KantÅ earthquake in
1923 and U.S. bombing in
1945.
|
Map of Kanagawa Prefecture. |
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.
Cities
19 cities are located in Kanagawa Prefecture.{|valign="top"|
*
Atsugi*
Ayase*
Chigasaki*
Ebina*
Fujisawa*
Hadano*
Hiratsuka*
Isehara*
Kamakura*
Kawasaki**
Asao-ku**
Kawasaki-ku**
Miyamae-ku**
Nakahara-ku**
Saiwai-ku**
Takatsu-ku**
Tama-ku*
Minamiashigara*
Miura, Kanagawa*
Odawara*
Sagamihara*
Yamato
*Yokohama (capital)
**Aoba-ku
**Asahi-ku
**Hodogaya-ku
**Isogo-ku
**Izumi-ku
**Kanagawa-ku
**Kanazawa-ku
**Kohoku-ku
**Konan-ku
**Midori-ku
**Minami-ku
**Naka-ku
**Nishi-ku
**Sakae-ku
**Seya-ku
**Totsuka-ku
**Tsuzuki-ku
**Tsurumi-ku
*Yokosuka
*Zama
*Zushi | 
