Takanezawa, Tochigi

Takanezawa is a town in Tochigi Prefecture, Japan, lying in the flatlands of the east-central part of the prefecture at an average elevation of roughly 109 to 195 metres. Utsunomiya borders it on the west across the Kinugawa River, and Haga, Ichikai, Nasukarasuyama and Sakura are its other neighbours. In mid 2020 the town had an estimated 29,528 residents in 12,618 households over an area of about 70.87 square kilometres. The modern town was formed on 1 April 1958 when Akutsu and Kitatakanezawa merged; those two had themselves come from the villages of Akutsu, Kitatakanezawa and Niita, created in 1889 with the modern municipal system. More than 65 percent of the land is farmed, with rice the main crop and tobacco, wheat, strawberries and pears among the others, and the town increasingly serves as a bedroom community for Utsunomiya. It is served by the Tohoku Main Line (Utsunomiya Line) and the Karasuyama Line, and by National Routes 4 and 408.