Nishiwaki, Hyogo
Encyclopedia
is a city
Cities of Japan
||A is a local administrative unit in Japan. Cities are ranked on the same level as and , with the difference that they are not a component of...

 located in Hyōgo Prefecture
Hyogo Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region on Honshū island. The capital is Kobe.The prefecture's name was previously alternately spelled as Hiogo.- History :...

, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

.

The city calls itself "The Navel of Japan (Nihon no Heso)." Located at the crossing of the 135° East meridian
Meridian (geography)
A meridian is an imaginary line on the Earth's surface from the North Pole to the South Pole that connects all locations along it with a given longitude. The position of a point along the meridian is given by its latitude. Each meridian is perpendicular to all circles of latitude...

 and the 35° North parallel
Circle of latitude
A circle of latitude, on the Earth, is an imaginary east-west circle connecting all locations that share a given latitude...

, the city's Nihon no Heso Park marks the center of the nation. JR West
West Japan Railway Company
, also referred to as , is one of the Japan Railways Group companies and operates in western Honshū. It has its headquarters in Kita-ku, Osaka.-History:...

 operates Nihon Heso Station on the Kakogawa Line
Kakogawa Line
The is a railway line in Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan operated by West Japan Railway Company , which connects the cities of Kakogawa and Tamba....

 (in addition to other stations in Nishiwaki).

As of May 1, 2011 the city has an estimated population
Population
A population is all the organisms that both belong to the same group or species and live in the same geographical area. The area that is used to define a sexual population is such that inter-breeding is possible between any pair within the area and more probable than cross-breeding with individuals...

 of 43,970, with a household
Household
The household is "the basic residential unit in which economic production, consumption, inheritance, child rearing, and shelter are organized and carried out"; [the household] "may or may not be synonymous with family"....

 number of 16,490 and a population density
Population density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...

 of 331.92 persons per km². The total area is 132.47 km².

The city was founded on April 1, 1952 and is the sister city
Town twinning
Twin towns and sister cities are two of many terms used to describe the cooperative agreements between towns, cities, and even counties in geographically and politically distinct areas to promote cultural and commercial ties.- Terminology :...

 of Renton, Washington
Renton, Washington
Renton is an Eastside edge city in King County, Washington, United States. Situated 11 miles southeast of Seattle, Washington, Renton straddles the southeast shore of Lake Washington. Founded in the 1860s, Renton became a supply town for the Newcastle coal fields...

, U.S.A.

On October 1, 2005, the town of Kurodashō
Kurodasho, Hyogo
was a town located in Taka District, Hyōgo, Japan.As of 2003, the town had an estimated population of 7,873 and a density of 222.78 persons per km². The total area was 35.34 km².On October 1, 2005 Kurodashō was merged into the city of Nishiwaki....

, from Taka District
Taka District, Hyogo
Taka is a district located in Hyōgo, Japan.As of 2003, the district has an estimated population of 33,093 and a density of 150.09 persons per km². The total area is 220.49 km².-Merger:...

, was merged with the old city of Nishiwaki to form the new city of Nishiwaki.

Sister city

Nishiwaki, Japan and Renton, WA, became sister cities in 1969 (http://rentonwa.gov/government/default.aspx?id=1502). Since then there have been mutual exchanges between the two cities, most notably the annual middle school exchange program which began in 1989 (The US delegation was in Japan from October 3 - 13th, 1989). The initial delegation from the US included (future) actress Casey Strand.

External links

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