is a
city||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
Naganois a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of the island of Honshū. The capital is the city of Nagano.- History :Nagano was formerly known as the province of Shinano, and was divided among many local daimyo during the Sengoku period....
,
Japanis an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of 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...
.
As of 2003, the city had an estimated
populationIn biology, a population is the collection of inter-breeding organisms of a particular species; in sociology, a collection of human beings. Individuals within a population share a factor may be reduced by statistical means, but such a generalization may be too vague to imply anything...
of 53,600 and a
densityPopulation density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans. It is a key term used in geography....
of 491.47 persons per km². The total area of the city is 109.06 km².
The city was founded on August 10, 1941, after the union of Kami-Suwa town, Toyoda village, and Shiga village. It is located on the shores of
Lake Suwais a lake in the central part of Nagano Prefecture, Japan. It ranks 24th in Japan in surface area.Lake Suwa is the site of o-miwatari, an interesting natural phenomenon. The lake has a natural hot spring under the surface, so that when the top freezes in the winter, the lower waters are still warm...
.
The Suwa region is the leading industrial area of Nagano and known as "The Oriental Switzerland" in Japan for its highly developed precision machinery industry.
is a
city||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
Naganois a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of the island of Honshū. The capital is the city of Nagano.- History :Nagano was formerly known as the province of Shinano, and was divided among many local daimyo during the Sengoku period....
,
Japanis an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of 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...
.
As of 2003, the city had an estimated
populationIn biology, a population is the collection of inter-breeding organisms of a particular species; in sociology, a collection of human beings. Individuals within a population share a factor may be reduced by statistical means, but such a generalization may be too vague to imply anything...
of 53,600 and a
densityPopulation density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans. It is a key term used in geography....
of 491.47 persons per km². The total area of the city is 109.06 km².
The city was founded on August 10, 1941, after the union of Kami-Suwa town, Toyoda village, and Shiga village. It is located on the shores of
Lake Suwais a lake in the central part of Nagano Prefecture, Japan. It ranks 24th in Japan in surface area.Lake Suwa is the site of o-miwatari, an interesting natural phenomenon. The lake has a natural hot spring under the surface, so that when the top freezes in the winter, the lower waters are still warm...
.
The Suwa region is the leading industrial area of Nagano and known as "The Oriental Switzerland" in Japan for its highly developed precision machinery industry.
Seiko Epson Corporation, or Epson, is a Japanese company and one of the world's largest manufacturers of inkjet, dot matrix and laser printers, scanners, desktop computers, business, multimedia and home theatre projectors, large home theatre televisions, robots and industrial automation equipment, point of sale docket...
, a manufacturer of information-related equipment and
Seiko, more commonly known simply as Seiko , is a Japanese watch company.-History and ongoing developments:The company started in 1881, when Kintarō Hattori opened a watch and jewelry shop called in the Ginza area of Tokyo, Japan. Eleven years later, in 1892, he began to produce clocks under the name...
timepieces, is headquartered in Suwa.
Suwa has a sister city in the United States: St. Louis, Missouri. There, some Japanese businesses with U.S. operations include Aluman Foils, Inc., Consolidated Gran & Barge, Dick Proctor Imports, Inc., Mitsubishi Trading Co., Marubeni, Nissho-Iwai, Bio Kyowa Chemical Co., and Koken Manufacturing.
Prominent features
The town is famous for its ryokans (
onsenAn is a term for hot springs in the Japanese language, though the term is often used to describe the bathing facilities and inns around the hot springs. A volcanically active country, Japan has thousands of onsen scattered along its length and breadth...
hotels, i.e., traditional Japanese guesthouses at
hot springsHot Springs may refer to:* Hot Springs, Arkansas*Hot Springs, California**Hot Springs, Lassen County, California**Hot Springs, Modoc County, California**Hot Springs, Plumas County, California* Hot Springs, Montana* Hot Springs, North Carolina...
). It forms the backdrop for Sayo Masuda's
Autobiography of a Geishais a book by .- About the author :Masuda was a geisha at a hot-spring resort in Japan.She was born in 1925, near the town of Shiojiri in Nagano Prefecture.Masuda wrote her autobiography between the years of 1956 and 1957....
.
Annual fireworks displays are held in August and September. The displays take place on the shores of the lake, and many tens of thousands of spectators enjoy the shows from the shores. Trains are the recommended way to get to Suwa on those days, though buses are significantly less expensive.
Every six years (in the years of the Tiger and the Monkey), Suwa hosts a
Shintoor kami-no-michi is the natural spirituality of Japan and the Japanese people. The word Shinto was adopted from the written Chinese , combining two kanji: , meaning gods or spirits ; and , or "do" meaning a philosophical path or study...
festival called
OnbashiraOnbashira is a festival held every six years in the Lake Suwa area of Nagano, Japan. The purpose of the festival is to symbolically renew the Suwa Taisha or Suwa Grand Shrine. "Onbashira" can be literally translated as "the honored pillars"....
(literally, "the honored log"). As part of the event, very large trees up in the hills are felled and brought down into the valley, pulling them with ropes and sliding them down hills. To demonstrate their bravery, young men from the area ride on the logs as they hurtle down the slopes.
Suwa houses one of four large Shinto shrines.
External links