Kashiwa (柏市, Kashiwa-shi) is a city located in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. As of May 1, 2024, the city had an estimated population of 435,578 in 199,926 households and a population density of 3800 persons per km. The total area of the city is 114.72 square kilometres (44.29 sq mi).
The name of the city is written with a single kanji character: 柏, a reference to Quercus dentata, commonly known in English as the Japanese emperor oak or daimyo oak.
Chiba Prefecture (千葉県, Chiba-ken; Japanese pronunciation: [tɕiꜜ.ba, tɕi.baꜜ, tɕi.baꜜkeɴ]) is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Chiba Prefecture has a population of 6,278,060 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of 5,157 km (1,991 sq mi). Chiba Prefecture borders Ibaraki Prefecture to the north, Saitama Prefecture to the northwest, and Tokyo to the west.
Chiba is the capital and largest city of Chiba Prefecture, with other major cities including Funabashi, Matsudo, Ichikawa and Kashiwa. Chiba Prefecture is located on Japan's eastern Pacific coast to the east of Tokyo, and is part of the Greater Tokyo Area, the most populous metropolitan area in the world. Chiba Prefecture largely consists of the Bōsō Peninsula, which encloses the eastern side of Tokyo Bay and separates it from Kanagawa Prefecture. Chiba Prefecture is home to Narita International Airport, the Tokyo Disney Resort, and the Keiyō Industrial Zone.