Sukagawa, Fukushima

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**Sukagawa City**
**須賀川市**
Sukagawa City's location in Fukushima prefecture, Japan.
Location
Country	Japan
Region	Tōhoku
Prefecture	Fukushima prefecture
Physical characteristics
Area	279.55 km² (107.93 sq mi)
Population (as of February, 2007)
Total	80,518
Density	288 /km² (746 /sq mi)
Location	37°17′N 140°23′E / 37.283, 140.383Coordinates: 37°17′N 140°23′E / 37.283, 140.383
Symbols
Sukagawa City Government Office

Sukagawa City

Sukagawa (須賀川市, Sukagawa-shi^?) is a city located in the center of Fukushima, Japan. It is famous for both its peony garden (Botan En), a national scenic beauty, and its great torch festival which has been hereditary for over 400 years.
Sukagawa is also known as the city which has turned out some prominent persons, such as below.

Eiji Tsuburaya
Kokichi Tsuburaya
Denzen Aōdō - Painter in late Edo period
Yuki Kadokura - Singer

1 History
2 Demographics
3 Events
4 Transportation
5 External links

[edit] History

During Edo period, Sukagawa belonged to Shirakawa Han (country subdivision). It was prospering as a major lodging place on Ōshū Kaidō, which is one of the Edo Five Routes, and was the commercial center in the region.
But after mid-Meiji period, Koriyama, which had succeeded in inviting the junction of West Ban'etsu Line, took its presence.
The city was founded on March 31, 1954, by consolidation of Sukagawa town, Hamada town, Nishibukuro village and Inada village in Iwase district and Oshioe village in Ishikawa district. Then, it merged with Niida village in Iwase district on March 10, 1955, with Ohigashi village in Ishikawa district on February 1, 1967, and finally with Naganuma town and Iwase village in Iwase district on April 1, 2005.

[edit] Demographics

As of January 1, 2005.

Name of Area	Population(persons)	Surface(km²)	Population density(persons/km²)
Sukagawa	22,523	8.55	2634.27
Hamada	5,570	12.06	461.86
Nishibukuro	17,424	23.60	738.31
Inada	4,463	16.16	276.18
Oshioe	4,386	34.43	127.39
Niida	7,557	18.79	402.18
Ohigashi	6,049	41.39	146.15
Naganuma	6,639	60.34	106.98
Iwase	6,146	64.23	93.31
Total	80,757	279.55	288.88

[edit] Events

Sukagawa city holds a well-known fireworks display every summer in August. About three hundred thousand spectators view this display each year. Approximately one hundred thousand separate fireworks of various kinds are fired off.

[edit] Transportation

Sukagawa is connected to Japan through Sukagawa Station (須賀川駅 sukagawa-eki) a railway station served by Tōhoku Main Line.

It is also the only city in the Fukushima prefecture that boasts an airport; Fukushima Airport was opened in May 20, 1993 with regular domestic flights to Sapporo, Osaka, Fukuoka and Naha and international flights to Shanghai and Seoul.