Narita

Narita is a city in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. It is the site of Narita International Airport, the main international airport serving the Greater Tokyo Area.As of February 1, 2016, the city has an estimated population of 131,096 and a population density of 613 persons per km². Its total area was 213.84sqkm.HistoryThe area Narita has been inhabited since the Japanese Paleolithic period. Archaeologists have found stone tools dating to some 30,000 years ago on the site of Narita Airport. Numerous shell middens from the Jōmon period, and hundreds of burial tumuli from the Kofun period have been found in numerous locations around Narita. Place names in the vicinity of Narita appear in the Nara period Man'yōshū (although the name “Narita” does not appear in written records until 1408). As Narita is located roughly equidistant from the Pacific Ocean and Tokyo Bay, around a number of small rivers, it was a natural political and commercial center for the region, and gained importance as a pilgrimage destination with the foundation of the noted Buddhist temple of Shinsho-ji in 940 AD. During the Heian period, the area was a center for the revolt of Taira Masakado. During the Edo period, the area continued to prosper as part of the tenryō within Shimōsa Province under direct control of the Tokugawa shogunate.