Chiba (千葉市 Chiba-shi?) is the capital city of Chiba Prefecture, Japan. It is located approximately 40 kilometres (25 mi) southeast of the center of Tokyo on Tokyo Bay. Chiba City became a government designated city in 1992. As of 2008, its population is approximately 960,000.
Chiba City is also one of the Kantō region's primary seaports, and is home to Chiba Port, which handles one of the highest volumes of cargo in the nation. Much of the city is residential, although there are many factories and warehouses located along the coast. There are several major urban centers in the city, including Makuhari, a prime waterfront business district in which Makuhari Messe is located, and Central Chiba, in which the prefectural government office and the city hall are located.
Chiba is famous for the Chiba Urban Monorail, the longest suspended monorail in the world, as published in the Guinness Book of World Records. Some popular destinations in the city include: Kasori Shellmound, the largest shellmound in the world at 134,000m2, Inage Beach, the first artificial beach in the nation which forms part of the longest artificial beach in Japan, and the Chiba City Zoological Park, popular on account of the standing red panda Futa.
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1st stop on today’s
tour: Mihama-en Garden, down by the
water front, near Chiba Marine Stadium, is walking
distance of the Kaihinmakuhari Station. This is Japan’s only traditional garden that intentionally uses skyscrapers as its background imagery.
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After you visit the garden, just north
of it is the convention center, Chiba’s Makuhari Messe
… cool buildings and landscaping.
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2nd stop on the tour: Inage Ocean Park, likely very active in the
summer and on the weekends, but it will likely be less crowded on a Monday in
the fall, there are some neat looking gardens and buildings … the beach is
likely off limits, but the beach is part of Japan’s
largest man made beach.
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3rd and last stop on the
water front: Chiba Port Tower and
Chiba Port Park; this looks like it could be pretty cool;
it is located in an industrial area and is associated with the port. I would check it out.
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4th stop on the tour takes
you back into the city: The next three
stops are all close to the Chiba Monorail system; Chiba Park is right next
door to the Chiba Velodrome; a nice place to see the cherry blossoms in the
spring, but may have some colorful leaves in the fall.
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5th stop is the Chiba Urban
Monorail’s Central Arch … it is just cool architecture.
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6th stop is really close to
the Central Arch: Chiba Shrine
Chiba-Jinja (千葉神社), likely a place you would not do much dendo, but a place
to get a feel for the culture of the city, the country, and the dominant
religion in the area.
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7th stop is at the other end
of the monorail line, Chiba City Zoological Park.
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This last recommendation is based on the assumption that you will only serve once in a Zone; it was that way in my mission, it may be different in yours. I would consider asking if the Zone could go to Nokogiri-yama (鋸山ロープウェー); it is in the Kisarazu area, specifically Kanaya, Futtsu-shi, Chiba Prefecture; it is about a 2 hour train ride south … it may be too far to go … but it is way cool. Although it is most famous for one of Japan's largest Daibutsu (statue of the Buddha), it also offers panoramic views of the area.
From Chiba Station take the JR Uchibo Line to Hamakanaya Station. From Hamakanaya Station, turn left along the main road and walk for about 10 minutes until you reach Sanroku Station. A ropeway system runs from here to the top of the mountain (Sancho Station).
The Buddhist temple located at the top of Nokogiriyama is called Nihon-ji and was founded in the year 725. It has fallen in and out of ruin numerous times and has belonged to various Buddhist sects but is currently associated with the Soto Zen sect. It costs ¥800 to enter the temple grounds; it is worth paying to see Nihon-ji's two most important treasures - the 30m stone Daibutsu, which is Japan's largest pre-modern stone Buddha, and the 'Hyaku Shaku Kannon', which is a huge relief carved into the mountain.
Instead of returning to Hanakanaya Station, consider going down the mountain on foot and walking to the next station on the Uchibo Line - Hota Station. The walk takes about 30-40 minutes.
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Kanaya,
Futtsu-shi, Chiba Prefecture
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Stone
Daibutsu, which is Japan's largest pre-modern stone Buddha
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Along
the trail are 1500 Rakan Statues
from the 17th century |
Mount
Nokogiri which literally translates to “saw mountain” is a spectacular view
from afar. While standing at the edge, the view below is comparable to what
the Japanese called as “a peep of hell” (Jigoku-nozoki).
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reminds me of studying japanese... arigato :)
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