Kisarazu

Kisarazu, city, southwest-central Chiba ken (prefecture), Honshu, Japan. It lies in the delta of the Obitsu River, on the west coast of the Bōsō Peninsula and on the east coast of Tokyo Bay, about 20 miles (32 km) southeast of Tokyo.

Kisarazu prospered as an early regional commercial and post town. During the Edo (Tokugawa) period (1603–1867), Kisarazu obtained the exclusive right of sea traffic between the western Bōsō Peninsula and Edo (now Tokyo). Kisarazu declined in the late 19th century with the introduction of steamships and the opening of a railway from Tokyo along the coast of the Bōsō Peninsula. The expansion of the Keiyō (Tokyo-Chiba) Industrial Zone on reclaimed lands had reached the city, however, by the early 1970s.

Chemicals, iron, steel, and electrical machinery are produced there. The city is also the southeastern terminus of the Trans-Tokyo Bay Highway. The last large stretch of natural beach within Tokyo Bay is at Kisarazu and is a popular recreation area. Pop. (2005) 122,234; (2010) 129,312.