Kashiwa

• Chiba Prefecture
  • Matsudo
  • Abiko
  • Inzai
  • Kamagaya
  • Noda
  • Shiroi
  • Nagareyama
• Ibaraki Prefecture
  • Toride
  • Moriya

Kashiwa has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cfa) characterized by warm summers and cool winters with light to no snowfall. The average annual temperature in Kashiwa is 14.7 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1358 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 26.5 °C, and lowest in January, at around 3.9 °C.[4]

Kashiwa has been settled since ancient times, and was historically part of Shimōsa Province. The area around Kashiwa was the site of the Battle of Sakainehara in 1478 early in the Sengoku period (1467 – 1573). During the Edo period (1603 – 1868), the area was tenryō territory controlled directly by the Tokugawa shogunate. The shogunate established a number of horse ranches which provided war horses for the army of the shogunate. The Tokugawa shogunate put much effort into draining the marshy areas of Lake Tega (Lake Teganuma) during the Edo period as part of large-scale land reclamation carried out across Japan.[3] Kashiwa was developed as a post station on the Mito Kaidō, which connected the capitol at Edo with Mito in present-day Ibaraki Prefecture.

After the Meiji Restoration in 1868, Kashiwa Village was created in Chiba Prefecture on October 1, 1889 with the establishment of the modern municipalities system. Kashiwa was connected to Tokyo by rail in 1896, and rail construction during the Meiji period (1868 – 1912) established the area as a commercial center.[1] Kashiwa became a town on September 15, 1926. Kashiwa, like much of northern Chiba Prefecture, saw the development of numerous military installations in the 1930s, notably after the Mukden Incident in 1931.[3] The Imperial Japanese Army established Kashiwa Air Field and Kashiwa Military Hospital, and Kashiwa became a military town. The air field was abandoned after the end of World War II, but the hospital continues to exist as the Kashiwa Public Hospital.[1]

On September 1, 1954, Kashiwa absorbed neighboring Kogane Town and Tsuchi and Tanaka villages to form the new city of Tokatsu (東葛市, Tokatsu-shi). However, many politicians in Kogane Town were vehemently opposed to the merger, and forced its dissolution on October 15, 1954 with most of former Kogane Town merging with Matsudo city instead.[3] On November 1, 1954, Fuse Village broke away from Tokatsu, eventually joining Abiko Town to form the city of Abiko. The remaining portion of Tokatsu was renamed Kashiwa on November 15, 1954. On December 25, 1955 a fire of unknown origin destroyed the former Kashiwa City Hall, and burned down most of the center of the city. In the 1960s, Kashiwa was designated for reconstruction with a special fund from the central government, which included Japan's first pedestrian decks, completed at Kashiwa Station in 1973. Also during this period, new town developments greatly expanded the city's population.

On April 1, 2008, Kashiwa was designated as a core city, with increased local autonomy. In August 2010, the city population exceeded 400,000 people.

• Chiba University, Kashiwa Campus
• University of Tokyo, Kashiwa Campus
• Reitaku University
• Nishōgakusha University
• Kaichi International University

• Kashiwa has 42 public elementary schools and 20 public middle schools operated by the city government, and three private combined middle/high schools and one combined middle/high school operated by the Chiba Prefectural Board of Education. The city has eight public high schools operated by the Chiba Prefectural Board of Education and two private high schools. The prefecture also operates one special education school for the handicapped.

JR East – Jōban Line

• Minami-Kashiwa - Kashiwa - Kita-Kashiwa

Tōbu Railway - Tobu Urban Park Line

• Toyoshiki - Kashiwa - Shin-Kashiwa - Masuo - Sakasai - Takayanagi

Metropolitan Intercity Railway Company - Tsukuba Express

• Kashiwanoha-campus - Kashiwa-Tanaka

• Jōban Expressway
• National Route 6
• National Route 16
• National Route 294