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35-526: Shibukawa is located at the juncture of the Tone River and Agatsuma River , in the central part of Gunma Prefecture, on the northern edge of the Kantō plains . It is about 120 kilometres (75 miles) from Tokyo . To the west is Mount Haruna , and to the east is Mount Akagi . To the north are Mount Onoko and Mount Komochi . The Tone River flows from the north (between Mount Akagi and Mount Komochi) southward through

70-585: A yam , though it is not related to tubers of the family Dioscoreaceae . Wild forms grow naturally in China and Southeast Asia. Konjac has been used in Japan since the 6th century, as a supposed medicinal food. Japanese documents from around the 18th century mentions its intestinal cleansing property. Nakajima Toemon developed a method to produce konjac flour in 1776, which are more durable for transportation and storage, contributing to their wider consumption. Konjac

105-577: A Humid continental climate (Köppen Cfa ) characterized by warm summers and cold winters with heavy snowfall. The average annual temperature in Shibukawa is 13.7 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1335 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 26.1 °C, and lowest in January, at around 2.3 °C. Per Japanese census data, the population of Shibukawa peaked around

140-469: A spathe enclosed by a dark purple spadix up to 55 cm (22 in) long. The food made from the corm of this plant is also widely known in English by its Japanese name konnyaku , it is cooked and consumed in China, Vietnam, Japan and Korea. The two basic types of cake are white and black. Noodles made from konnyaku are called shirataki . The corm of the konjac is often colloquially referred to as

175-476: A coma and died 27 months later at age 11. The Enriles won a $ 16.7 million judgment against the Taiwanese manufacturer of the candy. Konjac corm powder has a noticeably fishy smell and is used as an ingredient in vegan alternative seafood products. It can be incorporated into plant-based versions of seafood. For Chinese cooking, thin strands of konjac gel can be used as substitute for shark fins when preparing

210-501: A plant-based version of shark fin soup . Konjac can also be used for facial massage accessories, which are popular in Korea and gaining popularity in the West. Most commonly this is through the use of a konjac sponge, which is unique in that it can be used on sensitive skin that may become easily irritated with more common exfoliating tools (such as loofahs or washcloths). It can be used in

245-576: A size and consistency that pose a choking risk, but are nonetheless affected by the government bans. Some products that remain in East Asian markets have an increased size, unusual shape, and more delicate consistency than the round, plug-like gels that were associated with the choking incidents. The snacks usually have warning labels advising parents to make sure their children chew the jelly thoroughly before swallowing. Japan's largest manufacturer of konjac snacks, MannanLife , temporarily stopped producing

280-675: Is 12 kilometers (7.5 mi) long in total. The Tone River is home to Japan's longest car free cycling path. At over 220km long the Tone River Cycling Road 利根川サイクリングロード starts in Shibukawa City, Gunma and runs all the way to Choshi City, Chiba. The total route is over 230km but the final 10km or so into Choshi is on a road. The remaining 220km is on detached cycling paths high up on the river bank with great views of mountains while in Gunma and large rice fields and agriculture as you approach

315-472: Is 139 m (456 ft) above sea level . The majority of the city lies between 200 and 800 metres (656 and 2,625 feet) above sea level Farmland covers 49.88 km (19.26 sq mi) (20.8% of the city), housing covers 20.31 km (7.84 sq mi) (8.4%), and mountains and forests cover 77.39 km (29.88 sq mi) (32.2%) of the city’s area. The remaining 92.84 km (35.85 sq mi) (38.6%) has other land uses. Shibukawa has

350-537: Is all about having fun. Shibukawa is twinned with: [REDACTED] Media related to Shibukawa, Gunma at Wikimedia Commons Tone River The Tone River ( 利根川 , Tone-gawa ) is a river in the Kantō region of Japan . It is 322 kilometers (200 mi) in length (the second longest in Japan after the Shinano ) and has a drainage area of 16,840 square kilometers (6,500 sq mi) (the largest in Japan). It

385-407: Is based on a traditional Japanese form of entertainment where revelers paint a face on their torsos and stomachs and pretend it is a head. A kimono is then wrapped around the waist and the person's real head is hidden by a large cloth hat. The belly button is traditionally painted into a mouth. These days, modern motifs and Japanese anime designs have crept into the festival, which city officials said

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420-497: Is called shirataki and used in foods such as sukiyaki and gyūdon . Konjac is consumed in parts of China's Sichuan province; the corm is called moyu ( Chinese : 魔芋 ; lit. 'demonic taro'), and the jelly is called "konjac tofu" ( 魔芋豆腐 móyù dòufu ) or "snow konjac" ( 雪魔芋 xuě móyù ). In Vietnam , konjac is mainly grown in An Giang province. The corms are collected and processed into flour. The flour

455-570: Is grown in East and Southeast Asia and it is prized for its large starchy corms, used to create a flour and jelly of the same name. It is also used as a vegan substitute for gelatin . In Japan, over 90% of all domestically produced konjac is made in Gunma Prefecture . In Japanese cuisine , konjac ( konnyaku ) appears in dishes such as oden . It is typically mottled grey and firmer in consistency than most gelatins. It has very little flavor;

490-400: Is made by mixing konjac flour with water and limewater . Konjac cannot be eaten raw because it contains oxalic acid. The product come in various shades of gray; konnyaku made from corm are naturally dark, while those made from konjac flour are white. Hijiki is often added for the characteristic dark color and flavor. It is then boiled and cooled to solidify. Konjac made in noodle form

525-597: Is near the source for the Tone River and during the spring snow melt period, April–June, the river provides consistent grade 4 rapids (on the International Scale of River Difficulty ) over a 12 kilometers (7.5 mi) stretch. The river provides some of the best white water rafting and kayaking in Japan. The snow melt swells the river to grade 4 in spring; in the summer it is a gentle grade 2. The Momijikyo section has 7 grade 3-4 rapids for 1 kilometer (0.62 mi) and

560-661: Is nicknamed Bandō Tarō ( 坂東太郎 ); Bandō is an obsolete alias of the Kantō Region , and Tarō is a popular given name for an oldest son. It is regarded as one of the "Three Greatest Rivers" of Japan, the others being the Yoshino in Shikoku and the Chikugo in Kyūshū . The source of the Tone River is at Mount Ōminakami   [ Wikidata ] ( 大水上山 ) (1,831 meters (6,007 ft)) in

595-555: Is used to make drinks, cakes, and noodles. The dried corm of the konjac plant contains around 40% glucomannan gum. This polysaccharide makes konjac jelly a viscous substance that may be used in traditional Chinese medicine . Konjac can also be made into a popular East Asian fruit jelly snack, known variously in the US as lychee cups (after a typical flavor) or konjac candy, usually served in bite-sized plastic cups. Perhaps because of several highly publicized deaths and near-deaths in

630-747: The Echigo Mountains , which straddle the border between Gunma and Niigata Prefectures in Jōshin'etsu Kōgen National Park . The Tone gathers tributaries and pours into the Pacific Ocean at Cape Inubō , Choshi in Chiba Prefecture . Major tributaries of the Tone River include the Agatsuma , Watarase , Kinu , Omoi , and the Kokai River   [ Wikidata ] . The Edo River branches away from

665-562: The San Francisco Bay Area among children and elderly people caused by suffocation while eating konjac candy, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued product warnings in 2001, and there were subsequent recalls in the US and Canada. Choking and intestinal blockage risk warnings have been published at more recent websites. Unlike gelatine and some other commonly used gelling agents , konjac fruit jelly does not melt readily in

700-631: The 17th century during the Tokugawa shogunate , when the Kantō region became the political center of Japan. The course of the river was significantly changed, and the present route of the river was determined during the Meiji period , with the assistance of Dutch civil engineer Anthonie Rouwenhorst Mulder . Its vast watershed is thus largely artificial. Two ships of the Imperial Japanese Navy were named after

735-603: The 19th century major shipping on the Tone quickly declined, and inland ports such as Noda , Sekiyado , now part of Noda, Nagareyama , and Sawara , now part of Katori diminished in importance. Today the river has several dams that supply water for more than 30 million inhabitants of metropolitan Tokyo and large-scale industrial areas such as the Keiyō Industrial Zone . The Minakami onsen area in Gunma Prefecture

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770-667: The Gunma Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is divided between the Gunma 1st district and the Gunma 5th district of the lower house of the Diet of Japan . Shibukawa is a regional commercial center and transportation hub. Seasonal tourism, particularly to its hot spring and ski resorts, play a major role in the local economy. The area is noted for its production of konjac . Shibukawa has 14 public elementary schools and nine public middle schools operated by

805-564: The city government, and four public high schools operated by the Gunma Prefectural Board of Education. The prefecture also operates two special education schools for the handicapped. [REDACTED] JR East – Jōetsu Line [REDACTED] JR East – Agatsuma Line Ikaho Ropeway Shibukawa calls itself "The Bellybutton of Japan" (日本のおへそ) and hosts the Bellybutton Festival (へそ祭り) every year in late July. The festival

840-403: The city of Shibukawa. On February 20, 2006, Shibukawa absorbed the town of Ikaho , the villages of Komochi and Onogami (all from Kitagunma District ), and the villages of Akagi and Kitatachibana (both from Seta District ). Shibukawa has a mayor-council form of government with a directly elected mayor and a unicameral city council of 18 members. Shibukawa contributes two members to

875-581: The city, while the Agatsuma River flows from the west (between Mount Onoko and Mount Haruna), merging with the Tone River near the center of the city. Shibukawa is at a central point (36°29′ N, 139°00′ E) of the Japanese archipelago and is thus known as the Bellybutton of Japan ( 日本のおへそ , nihon no oheso ) . Shibukawa's highest altitude is 1,565 m (5,135 ft) above sea level ; its lowest point

910-485: The common variety tastes vaguely like salt , usually with a slightly oceanic taste and smell (from the seaweed powder added to it, though some forms omit the seaweed). In Japan, it is valued more for its texture than flavor. Ito konnyaku ( 糸蒟蒻 ) is a Japanese food consisting of konjac cut into noodle-like strips. It is usually sold in plastic bags with accompanying water, which is drained before cooking. The name literally means 'thread-konjac'. Japanese konnyaku

945-440: The jellies after a 21-month-old Japanese boy choked to death on a frozen MannanLife konjac jelly. 17 people died from choking on konjac between 1995 and 2008. MannanLife konjac jelly's packaging added a note to consumers, advising them to cut the product into smaller pieces before serving it to small children. In 1999, 8-year-old Michelle Enrile from San Jose, California , choked on a piece of konjac gel candy. She lapsed into

980-471: The largest flowering plants in the world and a congener of konjac. It is cultivated in warm subtropical to tropical areas of East and Southeast Asia, from China and Japan south to Indonesia and Vietnam (USDA hardiness zone 6–11). It is a perennial plant , growing from a large corm up to 25 cm (10 in) in diameter. The single leaf is up to 1.3 m (4 ft) across, bipinnate , and divided into numerous leaflets. The flowers are produced on

1015-455: The mouth. Some products form a gel strong enough to require chewing to disintegrate the gel. Though the product is intended to be eaten by gently squeezing the container, a consumer can suck the product out with enough force to unintentionally lodge it in the trachea. Because of this hazard, the European Union and Australia banned konjac fruit jelly. Some konjac jelly snacks are not of

1050-412: The ocean. [REDACTED] Media related to Tone River at Wikimedia Commons Konjac Amorphophallus konjac –also known as konnyaku , and konjac – is a vegetable species native to Yunnan in southwest China which has an edible corm . It is also known as devil's tongue , voodoo lily , snake palm , or elephant yam . It is a relative of the titan arum ( A. titanum ), one of

1085-493: The river and flows into Tokyo Bay . The Tone River was once known for its uncontrollable nature, and its route changed whenever floods occurred. It is hard to trace its ancient route, but it originally flowed into Tokyo Bay along the route of the present-day Edo River , and tributaries like the Watarase and Kinu had independent river systems. For the sake of water transportation and flood control, extensive construction began in

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1120-504: The river were asked to stop all shipments of fish caught in the Tone. The Tone River was an indispensable inland water link between the capitol at Edo , and later Tokyo, to the Pacific Ocean. It carried not only local products like soy sauce from Choshi , but also products from the Tōhoku region , in order to save time and to avoid risk in the open sea. With the advent of the railway in

1155-605: The river, one of World War I vintage and another from World War II , the lead ship of its class . As a result of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster radioactive cesium concentrations of 110 becquerels per kilogram were found in silver crucian carp fish caught in the Tone River in April 2012. The river is 180 kilometres (110 mi) from the Fukushima Daiichi Plant. Six fishery cooperatives and 10 towns along

1190-501: The year 1990 and has declined since. Shibukawa is located within what was formerly Kōzuke Province . During the Edo period , the area of present-day Shibukawa prospered due to its location on the Mikuni Kaidō highway connecting Takasaki with Niigata . Post stations within the borders of modern Shibukawa were Shibukawa-shuku, Kanai-shuku, Kitamoku-shuku and Yokobori-shuku. Shibukawa town

1225-624: Was created in Nishigunma District, Gunma Prefecture on April 1, 1889, with the creation of the modern municipalities system after the Meiji Restoration . In 1896, Nishiguma District and Kataoka District merged to form Gunma District, Gunma ; however, the area containing Shibukawa was separated out in October 1949 into Kitagunma District . On April 1, 1954, Shibukawa town absorbed the villages of Furumaki , Kanashima and Toyoaki to become

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