Kasai, Hyōgo

Kasai 加西市
City
Official seal of Kasai Symbol
Location of Kasai in Hyōgo Prefecture Location of Kasai in Hyōgo Prefecture
Kasai Location in Japan
Coordinates:
Country	Japan
Region	Kansai
Prefecture	Hyōgo Prefecture
Area
• Total	150.19 km2 (57.99 sq mi)
Population (2008)
• Total	49,496
• Density	330/km2 (850/sq mi)
Time zone	Japan Standard Time (UTC+9)
Website	www.city.kasai.hyogo.jp

Kasai (加西市, Kasai-shi) is a city located in Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. The city was founded on April 1, 1967 when the towns of Hōjō, Izumi and Kasai (former) were merged to create the city of Kasai.

As of 2008, the city has an estimated population of 49,496 and a population density of 336.31 persons per km². The total area is 150.19 km².

Kasai is famous for the Gohyaku-Rakan statues (the 500 disciples of Buddha) in Hōjō. Hōjō is also home to Maruyama Park, where one can find the world's largest globe clock (Guinness certified) and reputedly the world's longest roller slide. Other sights in Kasai are the Hyōgo Prefectural Flower Center, the Princess Nehime burial mound, and Ichijō-ji Temple near Zenbo junior high school. Kasai has two festivals: the Saisai festival in early August and the Sekku festival in early April.

Kasai is the sister city of Pullman, Washington USA.

Transport

Kasai is highly dependent on private vehicles as the main form of transportation.

Public Transport

Public transport is an inter-prefecture highway bus and a private railroad (the Hōjō Tetsudō), inter-city bus (Shinki bus), KIX airport limousine bus (Hakuro bus), domestic-bus (Kasai city community bus, Happy bus) and Taxi.

Culture

Architecture

• Ichijō-ji - the temple's pagoda, completed in 1171, is a National Treasure of Japan.

• 

  Ichijō-ji's pagoda

External links

• Media related to at Wikimedia Commons
• Kasai City official website (Japanese)