Narashino

Narashino (習志野市, Narashino-shi) is a city located in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. As of 30 November 2020^[update], the city had an estimated population of 175,292 in 81,985 households and a population density of 8400 persons per km². The total area of the city is 20.97 square kilometres (8.10 sq mi)

Narashino is located in far northwestern Chiba Prefecture, bordered by Tokyo Bay to the southwest, and the prefectural capital of Chiba to the east. It is approximately 20 to 30 kilometers from central Tokyo.

The city is located on the Shimōsa Plateau and reclaimed land fill on Tokyo Bay, with a large difference in elevation from the inland area to the coastal area.

Chiba Prefecture

Narashino has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cfa) characterized by warm summers and cool winters with light to no snowfall. The average annual temperature in Narashino is 15.4 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1410 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 26.9 °C, and lowest in January, at around 4.9 °C.

Per Japanese census data, the population of Narashino increased rapidly between 1950 and 1990 and has grown at a slower pace since.

The area around Narashino has been inhabited since prehistoric times. Archaeologists have found shell middens and numerous other remains from Jōmon period, as well as burial tumuli from the Kofun period. However, for most of its history, the area was a sparsely populated wetland and swamp along the northern shore of Edo Bay.

After the Meiji Restoration, Tsudanuma (津田沼村, Tsudanuma-mura) was founded within Chiba District on April 1, 1889 on the merger of five small hamlets with a total population of 4500 people. The area only began to develop with the coming of the railway, and Tsudanuma was raised to town status on March 3, 1903, with a population of 6000.