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The History of Miyazaki City

The photograph of the municipal emblem
A municipal emblem

History
Miyazaki City came into existence on April 1, 1924, when the three municipalities of Miyazaki Town, Oyodo Town and Omiyamura were merged into a single, new city. At this point, the population of the newly created city was 42,920, covering an area of 45.15 square kilometers.
After that, several communities were incorporated into Miyazaki City: Aokimura in April 1932, Akae Town in April 1943, the four villages of Uryuno, Kibana, Aoshima and Kuraoka in March 1951, Sumiyoshimura in October 1957, and Ikimemura in 1963.
On January 1, 2006, another large-scale amalgamation took place, whereby the neighboring communities of Sadohara, Tano and Takaoka were merged with Miyazaki City. Hereafter, the population grew to about 370,000 and the area to 596.80 square kilometers, and a new era began for the prefectural capital.

The photograph of the city flag
City flag

Miyazaki City is well known for its numerous legendary sites, because the Legends of Hyuga, famous throughout Japan, took place here. Therefore, in December 1965, Miyazaki City was proclaimed as "Japan's Cultural City of Historic Sightseeing". Also in regard to this history, a sister city pact was formed between Miyazaki City and Kashihara City on February 11, 1966.
Blessed with a pleasant climate, Miyazaki City developed into an internationally recognized tourist resort city, symbolized by "sun and nature". Therefore, two more partnerships with cities similar to Miyazaki were initiated. On May 25, 1992, the US city Virginia Beach became Miyazaki's sister city; another pact was sealed with the Chinese Huludao City on March 16, 2004.
In 1998, Miyazaki became an ordinance-designated city, which means that it gained the status of a Japanese core city with administrative rights. The municipal government of Miyazaki City has close ties to the citizens and aims at fostering a specialized city development through citizen participation, in a way that is appropriate for one of Kyushu’s core cities.

The image of the CI mark
A CI mark

Location and Topography
Miyazaki City is situated in the south-east of Kyushu, the most southern of Japan's main islands. From north to south the area consists of an extended hilly terrain. In the south it is bordered by the Wanitsuka and the Boroishi mountain ranges. In the northern outskirts of the city flows the Hitotsuse River and the Oyodo River in the center; whereas the Kiyotake, the Kaeda and other rivers run through the eastern part of the prefecture and later into the Pacific through Hyuga. The eastern part of the coastline is covered with white sand and pine trees, while further south of the southern town Aoshima the mountains reach right to the shore, making it a troublesome coastline.

Location
<Azimuth>
East: 131° 30' 21" Miyazaki City Sadowara-cho Shimotonda
West: 131° 11' 21" Miyazaki City Takaoka-cho uchiyama nishiyoreshi
North: 32° 03' 57" Miyazaki City Sadowara-cho Kamitajima kota
South: 31° 43' 16" Miyazaki City Oasa uchiumi
<Distance>
East-West: 29.9 km
North-South: 38.3 km

Tree of the city"Camphor tree"
Tree of the city"Camphor tree"
Flower of the city "Iris"
Flower of the city "Iris"
Flowering trees and shrubs of city"Camellia"
Flowering trees and shrubs of city"Camellia"
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