Kita-Ibaraki

▪ Japan

      city, northern Ibaraki ken (prefecture), east-central Honshu, Japan, facing the Pacific Ocean. The western part of the city occupies hills that slope toward the rest of the city on the coast. Agriculture (rice) and fishing (sardines, mackerel) are important. Coal mining was once important, but, with the closing of all the mines in the area, the city's population has decreased. Kita-Ibaraki is renowned for the Japan Art Institute, established in the former villa of the late 19th- and early 20th-century artists Okakura Kakuzō and Yokoyama Taikan. Pop. (2005 prelim.) 49,646.

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