Kairakuen
One of Japan's three great gardens; famous for 3,000 plum trees that bloom in late February — and free public access since its 1842 founding.
Open in Maps ↗Prefecture profile · 都道府県
Ibaraki 茨城県
Tokyo's northeastern back garden — and the unlikeliest of science capitals. Tsukuba's planned research city hosts the highest concentration of PhDs in Japan; Kashima ships steel and soccer trophies; Mito's Kairakuen is one of the country's three great gardens. And nattō was probably invented here.
Capital
Mito
Population
2.8 million
Area
6,097 km²
Region
Kantō
History
Mito was one of the three Tokugawa cadet branches and incubated the proto-nationalist 'Mito school' of thought that helped trigger the Meiji Restoration. Mito-era scholarship produced the Dai Nihon-shi, a 397-volume history of Japan compiled over 250 years.
Postwar Kashima — once a fishing village — was transformed into Japan's largest single petrochemical-and-steel industrial complex in the 1960s; Nippon Steel's Kashima Works remains the country's largest blast-furnace site.
In 1963 the government broke ground on Tsukuba Science City, relocating ~32 national research institutes from Tokyo. Today Tsukuba is home to KEK (high-energy physics), JAXA's Tsukuba Space Center, and the densest cluster of PhD holders in Japan.
Economy & business
Ibaraki's prefectural GDP is around ¥14 trillion (US$95 billion). It is the country's #2 agricultural producer by sales (melons, sweet potatoes, lotus root, chestnuts, hakusai cabbage), Japan's #1 steel-blast-furnace site (Kashima), and the home of Tsukuba's research-and-tech cluster.
Key industries
Heavy industry — Kashima
Nippon Steel Kashima Works (largest in Japan), Mitsubishi Chemical, JX Energy refining — Japan's single largest coastal industrial complex.
Agriculture
Japan's #2 by farm sales; #1 in melons, lotus root, chestnuts, and several vegetables.
Research & technology
Tsukuba Science City — KEK, AIST, JAXA Tsukuba; Cyberdyne robotics spun out of University of Tsukuba.
Soccer & sports
Kashima Antlers — Japan's most-decorated J-League club; soccer infrastructure spans the Kashima coast.
Food & fermentation
Mito nattō is sold worldwide; Ibaraki produces ~25% of Japan's brewing rice.
Notable companies
Nippon Steel Kashima WorksJX Nippon (Kashima)Hitachi Construction MachineryJoyo BankCyberdyne (Tsukuba)Aeon Mall Tsukuba
Trade partners
ChinaUnited StatesSouth KoreaTaiwanThailand
Tourism highlights
Hitachi Seaside Park
Kokuei coastal park whose 4.5 million nemophila ('baby-blue eyes') turn entire hillsides sky-blue every April.
Open in Maps ↗Fukuroda Falls
120-metre four-tiered waterfall in northern Ibaraki; freezes solid in winter.
Open in Maps ↗Tsukuba Science City
JAXA Space Center tours, KEK physics museum, the University of Tsukuba campus — Japan's best public-science day-trip.
Open in Maps ↗Kashima Jingū
Shrine founded in the year 660 BCE (mythically); home of the kami of swordsmanship and the founding myth of the Yamato east-expansion.
Open in Maps ↗Ushiku Daibutsu
120-metre standing Buddha — bronze, taller than the Statue of Liberty without her plinth — visible from the Jōban expressway.
Open in Maps ↗Did you know
The Ushiku Daibutsu (1993) is the world's largest standing bronze statue at 120 metres; visitors can ride an elevator to the chest cavity for a city view.
Mito-style nattō was almost certainly invented here when 11th-century samurai marshal Minamoto no Yoshiie's troops bivouacked with steamed soybeans in straw, which fermented overnight — the locals turned 'accident' into franchise.
Tsukuba has the highest concentration of PhD-holders of any Japanese city — roughly 1 in 14 residents has a doctorate.
About Ibaraki — Frequently asked
What is the capital of Ibaraki?
The capital of Ibaraki is Mito.
What region of Japan is Ibaraki in?
Ibaraki is part of the Kantō region of Japan.
What are Ibaraki's main industries?
Ibaraki's key industries include Heavy industry — Kashima, Agriculture, Research & technology, Soccer & sports.
What are the top tourist attractions in Ibaraki?
Top attractions in Ibaraki include Kairakuen, Hitachi Seaside Park, Fukuroda Falls, Tsukuba Science City.
What major companies are based in Ibaraki?
Notable companies headquartered in Ibaraki include Nippon Steel Kashima Works, JX Nippon (Kashima), Hitachi Construction Machinery, Joyo Bank, Cyberdyne (Tsukuba).
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