Tochigi prefecture

Tochigi-ken ; 栃木県
Basic data
Administrative headquarters :	Utsunomiya
Region :	Kanto
Main island :	Honshu
Area :	6,408.09 km²
Water content:	0.2 %
Residents :	1,942,312 ; (October 1, 2019)
Population density :	303 inhabitants per km²
Counties :	5
Municipalities :	26th
ISO 3166-2 :	JP-09
Governor :	Tomikazu Fukuda
Website:	www.pref.tochigi.lg.jp
Symbols
Prefecture flag :
Prefecture tree :	Japanese horse chestnut
Prefecture flower :	Yashio Tsutsuji ( Rhododendron pentaphyllum var. Nikoense , rhododendron quinquefolium , Rhododendron albrechtii )
Vogel prefecture :	Japanese snapper
Prefecture mammal :	Japanese serau

The Tochigi Prefecture ( Jap. 栃木県 , Tochigi-ken ) is a prefecture of Japan and is located in the region Kanto on the island of Honshu . The seat of the prefecture administration is in Utsunomiya .

history

Before the Meiji Restoration , Tochigi was known as Shimotsuke Province. The Ashikaga Gakkō , Japan's oldest college, opened in the early 15th century . In the early 17th century Japan was politically united by the Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu . In the late 19th century, the Tokugawa shogunate saw its decline and the new government introduced the prefectures . In March 2011, radioactivity in Tochigi was 33 times higher than normal as a result of the Fukushima nuclear disaster .

politics

Group strengths in the prefecture parliament
(as of June 17, 2019)

A total of 50 seats

LDP : 33
Minshu shimin club ("Democratic Citizens Club "; with KDP , DVP ): 6

Kōmeitō : 3

Kenmin Club ("Prefectural Citizens Club"): 3

Five one-member parliamentary groups (including CPY ): 5

Tomikazu Fukuda , the former mayor of Utsunomiya, who defeated his predecessor Akio Fukuda , has been the governor of Tochigi since 2004 . He was last confirmed in office in the gubernatorial election in November 2016 against just one Communist candidate. In the 50-member parliament, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) remained by far the strongest force in the April 2019 election .

In the national parliament , Tochigi is directly represented by five members of the lower house and two in the upper house , namely after the elections in 2016 , 2017 and 2019 and since then (as of August 2019):

in the lower house by the Liberal Democrats Hajime Funada , Kazuo Yana , Tsutomu Satō , and Toshimitsu Motegi as well as ex-governor Akio Fukuda (2019 to the KDP ),
in the upper house by the Liberal Democrats Michiko Ueno and Katsunori Takahashi .