Tsukuba, Ibaraki

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia   (Redirected from Tsukuba Science City) Jump to: navigation, search Tsukuba つくば —  Special city  — つくば市 View of Mount Tsukuba and Tsukuba Center Flag Location of Tsukuba in Ibaraki Tsukuba   Coordinates: 36°2′N 140°4′E / 36.033°N 140.067°E / 36.033; 140.067Coordinates: 36°2′N 140°4′E / 36.033°N 140.067°E / 36.033; 140.067 Country Japan Region Kantō Prefecture Ibaraki Government  • Mayor Kenichi Ichihara Area  • Total 284.07 km2 (109.68 sq mi) Population (October 1, 2012)  • Total 217,315  • Density 765.00/km2 (1,981.3/sq mi) Time zone Japan Standard Time (UTC+9) City symbols - Tree Japanese zelkova - Flower Hoshizaki-yukinoshita (Saxifraga stolonifera Curtis f. aptera (Makino) H.Hara) - Bird Ural owl Phone number 029-883-1111 Address 2530-2 Karima, Tsukuba-shi, Ibaraki 305-8555 Website www.city.tsukuba.ibaraki.jp Tsukuba Center, in the city central district One of the buildings at the University of Tsukuba The Tsukuba Express Mount Tsukuba

Tsukuba (つくば市, Tsukuba-shi?) is a city in Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan. It is known as the location of the Tsukuba Science City (筑波研究学園都市, Tsukuba Kenkyū Gakuen Toshi?), a planned city developed in the 1960s. As of October 1, 2012, the city has an estimated population of 217,315, with 90,151 households and a population density of 765 persons per km². Its total area is 284.07 km². Mount Tsukuba, particularly well known for its toad-shaped Shinto shrine, is located near the city. Tsukuba is a twin city of Irvine, California, Milpitas, California, and Cambridge, Massachusetts in the United States of America.

Etymology

The Fudoki of Hitachi Province (常陸国風土記, hitachi no kuni fudoki?), a national geography completed in 721, says Tsukuba was named after a noble called Tsukuha no Mikoto (筑箪命?). According to the book, Tsukuba was once called Ki Province (紀国, ki no kuni?). Under the reign of Mimaki no Sumeramikoto (美麻貴天皇?) (Emperor Sujin), Tsukuha no Mikoto from the Uneme clan (采女氏, uneme uji?) was appointed as its governor. He had a strong desire to leave his name in history, so he renamed the province to Tsukuha, which is now pronounced Tsukuba. This description may be unhistorical, since Emperor Sujin is now considered to be a legendary person, but at least it suggests the name Tsukuba has been used from ancient times.

History

Tsukuba Science City represents one of the world's largest coordinated attempts to accelerate the rate of and improve the quality of scientific discovery. The city was closely modeled on other planned cities and science developments, including Brasilia, Novosibirsk's Akademgorodok, Bethesda, and Palo Alto. The city was founded by the merger of Ōho, Sakura, Toyosato, and Yatabe.

Beginning in the 1960s, the area was designated for development. Construction of the city centre, the University of Tsukuba and 46 public basic scientific research laboratories began in the 1970s. The city became operational in the 1980s to stimulate scientific discovery. Its constituent municipalities were administratively united in 1987. By the year 2000, the city's 60 national research institutes and two universities had been grouped into five zones: higher education and training, construction research, physical science and engineering research, biological and agricultural research, and common (public) facilities. These zones were surrounded by more than 240 private research facilities. Among the most prominent institutions are the University of Tsukuba (1973; formerly Tokyo University of Education); the High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK); the Electrotechnical Laboratory; the Mechanical Engineering Laboratory; and the National Institute of Materials and Chemical Research. The city has an international flair, with about 3,000 foreign students and researchers from as many as 90 countries living in Tsukuba at any one time.

Over the past several decades, nearly half of Japan's public research and development budget has been spent in Tsukuba. Important scientific breakthroughs by its researchers include the identification and specification of the molecular structure of superconducting materials, the development of organic optical films that alter their electrical conductivity in response to changing light, and the creation of extreme high-pressure vacuum chambers. Tsukuba has become one of the world's key sites for government-industry collaborations in basic research. Earthquake safety, environmental degradation, studies of roadways, fermentation science, microbiology, and plant genetics are some of the broad research topics having close public-private partnerships.

Tsukuba hosted the Expo '85 world's fair in 1985, which is commemorated by a full-scale, working rocket in the city park. Attractions at the event included the 85-metre (279 ft) Technocosmos, which at that time was the world's tallest Ferris wheel.

During the Fukushima I nuclear accidents in 2011, evacuees from the accident zone reported that municipal officials in Tsukuba refused to allow them access to shelters in the city unless they presented certificates from the Fukushima government declaring that the evacuees were "radiation free".

On May 6, 2012, Tsukuba was struck by a tornado which caused heavy damage to numerous structures and approximately twenty thousand residents were left without electricity. The storm injured forty-five people and a fourteen year-old boy was killed. The tornado was rated an F-3 by the Japan Meteorological Agency, making it the most powerful tornado to ever hit Japan. Some spots had F-4 damage.

Transportation

On August 24, 2005, a rail service called the Tsukuba Express, or simply "TX", opened. Operated by the Metropolitan Intercity Railway Company, it provides Tsukuba with a rapid connection to Akihabara Station in Tokyo. It takes 45 minutes to travel between Tsukuba Station and Akihabara Station.

The bus station, in the same area as the TX, offers intracity transport as well as travel to stations in nearby towns and to major stations throughout Kantō.

Tsukuba is on the Joban Expressway, the express tollway which runs between Tokyo and Mito.

The closest major airport is Narita International Airport, connected to Tsukuba with a regular bus service (the travel time is approximately 1 hour 40 minutes). Haneda Airport is accessible from the city via a bus that carries people daily from the airport to the city's center. A new domestic airport has been built in nearby Omitama, Ibaraki which connects with Sapporo, Hokkaido, Naha, Okinawa, Osaka, and Fukuoka.

Research institutes in Tsukuba

Geographical Survey Institute Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) KEK National Food and Research Institute (NFRI) National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) National Institute for Environmental Studies National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS) National Institute for Rural Engineering Tsukuba Botanical Garden University of Tsukuba

Museums in Tsukuba

Science Museum of Map and Survey

Name in kanji

Tsukuba (つくば?) is one of a small number of hiragana cities in Japan whose names are written in hiragana rather than kanji (Chinese characters). When written in kanji, it is rendered "筑波."