Kawasaki

Kawasaki, city in Japan, on southeastern Honshū Island, in Kanagawa Prefecture, between Tokyo and Yokohama. Situated on Tokyo Bay in a highly urbanized area, Kawasaki is an important port and industrial center of the Keihin Industrial Zone. Kawasaki ranks among Japan’s busiest seaports. The city is also a leading center for high-technology industries.

Among Kawasaki’s best-known landmarks is Heigenji Temple, a Buddhist shrine dating from ad 1128. Other attractions include the Kawasaki City Museum, the Kawasaki Peace Museum, an art garden, and the Kawasaki City Japanese House Museum, dedicated to the preservation of traditional Japanese architecture. Many of these destinations are easily accessible via the city’s modern subway system.

The city was originally a way station on the Tokaido road during Japan’s Edo period (17th century to mid-19th century). A surge of economic activity and consequent population growth led to the city’s incorporation in 1924.

The city of Kawasaki has twice overcome catastrophe to become an important Japanese seaport and industrial center. Kawasaki was completely rebuilt after being nearly leveled by bomb raids during World War II (1939-1945), only to be ravaged again by a disastrous fire in 1976. The city was once again laboriously reconstructed, this time using innovative fire-prevention technologies. A series of land reclamation projects have since expanded the city’s area significantly. Population 1,340,801 (2008).