Tsukuba

つくば市つくばしTsukuba-shi

Japan's science city under a sacred mountain

Tsukuba is a planned city in southern Ibaraki, built from the 1960s as Japan's national centre for research and higher education. It hosts dozens of public research institutes, the University of Tsukuba and JAXA's Tsukuba Space Center, beneath the ancient sacred mountain that gives it its name.

Overview

Tsukuba stretches from the foot of Mount Tsukuba southward across a flat terrace of farmland and pine woods between the Kokai and Sakura rivers. In 1963 the national government chose this area to relieve Tokyo by relocating its research institutes and a national university, and over the following two decades a new town was laid out along a north–south axis of parks and pedestrian paths, with laboratory campuses set in greenery.

The result is one of the largest concentrations of research in Asia: the University of Tsukuba, the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), the high-energy accelerator laboratory KEK, the National Institute for Materials Science, the Geospatial Information Authority of Japan, agricultural and building research institutes and JAXA's main space centre. Several Nobel laureates have worked here, and the city has an unusually international population of researchers and students.

The opening of the Tsukuba Express in 2005 tied the city directly to Akihabara, and new residential districts have grown along the line. Outside the planned core, Tsukuba remains rural, with old village centres, rice paddies and the shrine and hiking trails of Mount Tsukuba in the north.

Landmarks

Mount Tsukuba and Tsukubasan Shrine
筑波山神社Tsukubasan Jinja
Shrine whose sacred body is the mountain itself; its male and female peaks, Nantai-san and Nyotai-san, are reached by trail, cable car and ropeway.
JAXA Tsukuba Space Center
筑波宇宙センターTsukuba Uchū Sentā
Japan's main space centre and control site for the Kibo module of the International Space Station, with a public exhibition hall.
Geological Museum
地質標本館Chishitsu Hyōhonkan
AIST's museum of the geology of the Japanese archipelago, with rock, mineral and fossil collections.
Science Museum of Map and Survey
地図と測量の科学館Chizu to Sokuryō no Kagakukan
Museum of the Geospatial Information Authority, with a walk-on relief map of Japan and historical surveying instruments.
Tsukuba Botanical Garden
筑波実験植物園Tsukuba Jikken Shokubutsuen
Research garden of the National Museum of Nature and Science, arranged by Japanese vegetation zones.
Tsukuba Center Building
つくばセンタービルTsukuba Sentā Biru
Postmodern civic complex and plaza by Arata Isozaki (1983), a key work of Japanese architecture of the period.
Tsukuba Expo Center
つくばエキスポセンターTsukuba Ekisupo Sentā
Science museum and planetarium created for Expo '85, with a full-size H-II rocket model outside.

Districts

Tsukuba Center
つくばセンターTsukuba Sentā
The planned downtown around Tsukuba Station, with shopping, hotels, the bus terminal and the central park axis.
Tennodai
天王台Tennōdai
The campus district of the University of Tsukuba north of the centre.
Hojo
北条Hōjō
Old market town at the foot of Mount Tsukuba with storehouses and merchant houses.
Tsukuba-san shrine town
The cluster of inns, shops and the shrine at the start of the mountain trails and cable car.
Kenkyu-gakuen
研究学園Kenkyū-gakuen
New district around the Tsukuba Express station of that name, with the city hall.

History

Mount Tsukuba appears in the Man'yoshu poetry anthology and in the Hitachi no Kuni Fudoki, which describes the utagaki song festivals held on its slopes, where young men and women exchanged poems. The mountain was a centre of Shinto and Buddhist worship for centuries, and the market town of Hojo at its foot served pilgrims and farmers.

The modern city is the product of national planning. After the cabinet decision of 1963, the Tokyo University of Education was reorganised as the University of Tsukuba in 1973, and by 1980 most of the designated institutes had moved. The International Science and Technology Expo of 1985 made the name known worldwide. Tsukuba City was formed by the merger of several towns and villages in 1987 and absorbed Kukizaki in 2002.

8th century
Mount Tsukuba and its song festivals are recorded in the Hitachi no Kuni Fudoki and the Man'yoshu.
1864
The Tengu Party of Mito loyalists raises its banner on Mount Tsukuba.
1963
The cabinet decides to build a research and academic city at the foot of Mount Tsukuba.
1973
The University of Tsukuba opens as successor to the Tokyo University of Education.
1980
Relocation of most national research institutes to Tsukuba is completed.
1985
The International Science and Technology Expo (Expo '85) is held in Tsukuba.
1987
Tsukuba City is created by merger; Kukizaki joins in 2002.
2005
The Tsukuba Express opens between Akihabara and Tsukuba.

Culture

Tsukuba's culture is shaped by its research campuses: open days, science festivals, lectures and a large international community of researchers and students. The old culture of the mountain continues at Tsukubasan Shrine, and the toad-oil salesman's patter (gama no abura-uri) is preserved as a local performing art.

Festivals

Ozagawari Festival
御座替祭Ozagawari-sai
Held on 1 April and 1 November at Tsukubasan Shrine, when the deities are ritually moved between the summit and the lower shrine.
Tsukuba Festival
まつりつくばMatsuri Tsukuba
The city's summer festival in late August, with parades and a nebuta-style float in the centre.
Mount Tsukuba Plum Festival
筑波山梅まつりTsukubasan Ume Matsuri
From February into March in the plum grove on the mountain's western slope.

Food

Fukure mikan
福来みかんfukure mikan
A tiny, fragrant citrus grown on the slopes of Mount Tsukuba, used dried in shichimi spice blends.
Hitachi Aki soba
常陸秋そばHitachi aki soba
Ibaraki's prized buckwheat variety, served in soba restaurants at the foot of the mountain.
International food
Thanks to its research community, Tsukuba has an unusually wide range of foreign restaurants for a city of its size.

Getting around

The Tsukuba Express links Tsukuba Station with Akihabara in Tokyo in about 45 minutes by rapid service.
Tsukuba Center bus terminal is the hub for city buses, the shuttle to Mount Tsukuba and highway buses to Tokyo Station and Narita and Haneda airports.
JR Joban Line stations at Tsuchiura and Hitachino-Ushiku are connected to the centre by bus.
The city is spread out; cycling on its dedicated paths and car or bus travel are the usual ways to reach institutes and the mountain.

Day trips

Mount Tsukuba
Hike or ride the cable car to the twin summits for views across the Kanto Plain.
Lake Kasumigaura and Tsuchiura
霞ヶ浦Kasumigaura
Lakeside cycling routes and the old castle town of Tsuchiura.
Ushiku Daibutsu
牛久大仏Ushiku Daibutsu
A 120-metre bronze statue of Amida Buddha in neighbouring Ushiku, among the tallest statues in the world.
Mito
Kairakuen garden and the Kodokan in the prefectural capital.
Akihabara and central Tokyo
Direct by Tsukuba Express.

Other cities in the prefecture

CapitalMitoMito-shiPlum blossom, scholarship and the Mito Tokugawa

Frequently asked questions

What is Tsukuba Science City?

A planned research and academic city created by the national government from the 1960s, where dozens of national research institutes and the University of Tsukuba were relocated from Tokyo.

How do I get from Tokyo to Tsukuba?

Take the Tsukuba Express from Akihabara to Tsukuba Station, about 45 minutes by rapid train. Highway buses also run from Tokyo Station.

Can visitors see the JAXA Tsukuba Space Center?

Yes, the exhibition hall with satellite and rocket models and a Kibo module mock-up is open to the public, and guided tours are offered; check JAXA's website for conditions.

How long does it take to climb Mount Tsukuba?

The main trails from the shrine to the summits take about 90 minutes on foot; a cable car and a ropeway offer alternatives.

Sources

1.つくば市ホームページ (opens in a new tab) — つくば市 (Tsukuba City)
2.令和2年国勢調査 (opens in a new tab) — 総務省統計局 (Statistics Bureau of Japan)
3.筑波宇宙センター (opens in a new tab) — 宇宙航空研究開発機構 (JAXA)
4.Japan National Tourism Organization (opens in a new tab) — JNTO