Tsuruga (敦賀市, Tsuruga-shi) is a city located in Fukui Prefecture, Japan. As of June29,2018[update], the city had an estimated population of 66,123 in 28,604 households and the population density of 260 persons per km2. The total area of the city was 251.39 square kilometers (97.06sqmi).
Geography
Tsuruga, looking southwest from Honmachi
Tsuruga is in central Fukui Prefecture. It faces the Sea of Japan to the north across Tsuruga Bay, an inlet of Wakasa Bay, and is surrounded by mountains on its other three sides. The city lies just north of Lake Biwa. Shiga Prefecture borders Tsuruga to the south.
The city measures about 14 km from east to west and 26 km from north to south. The Tsuruga Peninsula and 54km (34mi) of coastline shelter the bay from Sea of Japan winds and waves, making it a natural harbor since antiquity.
Tsuruga enjoys relatively quick access to both the Kansai region and to the Chūkyō (Nagoya) metropolitan area. By limited express train, Kyoto is 55 minutes away and Osaka about 1 hour 20 minutes. Nagoya is about 1 hour 30 minutes away by limited express. By road, Kyoto and Nagoya are each about 120km (75mi) away, and Osaka about 170km (110mi).
Tsuruga has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen climate classificationCfa) with hot summers and cool winters. Precipitation is plentiful throughout the year, and is particularly heavy in December and January. The average annual temperature in Tsuruga is 15.6°C (60.1°F). The average annual rainfall is 2,199.5mm (86.59in) with December as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 27.7°C (81.9°F), and lowest in January, at around 4.7°C (40.5°F).
Climate data for Tsuruga (1991−2020 normals, extremes 1897−present)
Per Japanese census data, the population of Tsuruga peaked around the year 2000 and has declined slightly since.
Historical population
Year
Pop.
±%
1970
56,445
—
1980
61,844
+9.6%
1990
68,041
+10.0%
2000
68,145
+0.2%
2010
67,760
−0.6%
2020
64,264
−5.2%
History
Although Tsuruga promotes itself as the leading city of the Wakasa region, the city was actually part of ancient Echizen Province. A settlement at Tsuruga is mentioned in the Nara periodKojiki and Nihon Shoki chronicles. Kanagasaki Castle was the site of major battles during the early Muromachi period and the Sengoku period, Under the Edo periodTokugawa shogunate, large portions of the city were part of the holdings of Obama Domain and Tsuruga Domain, and prospered as a major port on the kitamaebune shipping routes between western Japan and Hokkaido. Following the Meiji restoration, the area became part of Tsuruga District in the short-lived Tsuruga Prefecture, which was formed in 1871 and absorbed neighboring Asuwa Prefecture in 1873. When Tsuruga Prefecture was abolished in 1876, Tsuruga District and all of Wakasa Province were transferred to Shiga Prefecture. In 1881 they were separated from Shiga and became part of the newly created Fukui Prefecture, over the objections of Shiga's governor. With the creation of the modern municipalities system, the town of Tsuruga was founded on April 1, 1889.
An Imperial decree in July 1899 established Tsuruga as an open port for trading with the United States and the United Kingdom.
Tsuruga merged with the neighboring village of Matsubara and was incorporated as a city on April 1, 1937. Tsuruga was the only Japanese port opened to the Polish orphans in 1920, and to the Jewish refugees in 1940 thanks to Jan Zwartendijk, the Dutch Consul in Kaunas, who issued visa for Curaçao and Surinam, Mr. Chiune Sugihara, Vice-Consul for the Empire of Japan in Lithuania who issued transit visa for Japan. These events are detailed at the Port of Humanity Tsuruga Museum. On July 12, 1945, an American incendiary air raid destroyed 68 percent of Tsuruga's built-up area as part of a sustained bombing campaign against Japan's cities.
The city expanded on January 15, 1955 by annexing the neighboring villages of Arachi, Awano, Togo, Nakago and Higashiura.
Government
Tsuruga has a mayor-council form of government with a directly elected mayor and a unicameral city legislature of 22 members.
Economy
Tsuruga has a healthy mixed economy focused on providing services to the Wakasa region. It features a container port, a bulk terminal, a coal-fired power plant, two textile mills, a large furniture factory, a playground equipment manufacturer, and a Panasonic (Matsushita) facility. Education and energy research also drive the economy.
Tsuruga has 13 public elementary schools and five middle schools operated by the city government, and two public high schools operated by the Fukui Prefectural Board of Education. There is also one private high school and one private middle/high school. Tsuruga Nursing University is also located in the city.
About twenty or so bronze statues – each perhaps four or five feet tall – of characters and scenes from the popular 1970s animeUchū Senkan Yamato (Space Battleship Yamato or, in the United States, Star Blazers) and Galaxy Express 999 were erected in the city's downtown area in 1999. Though the creator of these shows, Leiji Matsumoto, was born elsewhere, an exhibit of his artwork was held in the city in 1999 as part of the city's 100th anniversary celebration, accompanied by the erection of the statues.
References
↑"敦賀市長プロフィール"[Profile of the Mayor of Tsuruga]. Tsuruga City (in Japanese). February 25, 2026. Retrieved October 12, 2026.
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