Came to Niigata to check in

1. Niigata City (Japanese: 新栅市/にいがたしNiigata shi) is a city located in the northeastern part of Niigata Prefecture (Shimoetsu region) in Japan. It is the capital of Niigata Prefecture and is located at the estuary of the Shinano River, the longest river in Japan. It is the largest city in the Japan Sea side of Honshu and the Hokuriku Shin-etsu region, as well as the only designated city by government decree. As a port city, Niigata has a long history of development. By the Edo period, it was one of the important ports on the coast of the Sea of ​​Japan. It was one of the five ports opened by the United States and Japan for the Treaty of Amity and Commerce at the end of the Edo period. It is now also a key point for water and land transportation. After the merger of cities, towns and villages in 2005, the city's population exceeded 800,000, and in 2007 it became the first designated city on the Sea of ​​Japan side of Honshu. 2. The place name "Niigata" first appeared in 1520 (Eisho 17). There are many theories about its origin, but they all have to do with its location at the mouth of the Shinano River: Originally, the estuary area of ​​the Shinano River formed a lagoon called "Niigata". 3. A new inland bay has formed in the sandbars of the Shinano River, and a new lagoon has been formed there. There is a village called "Shinkata" (新方/にいかた) on the new island formed by the change of terrain at the estuary of the Shinano River, which was later misnamed "Niigata". 4. The village originally located on the coast of Niigata Island was moved to Furumachi in today's Niigata city. This village was called "Shinkata" in contrast to the original seaside village, but the Japanese pronunciation changed from "にいかた" to "にいがた". Later, the "方" in the name was transcribed into "泄" which has the same pronunciation in Japanese. 5. In the past, Japan used both "Niigata" and "Niigata". After the popularization of printing technology and the inclusion of the character "泄" in commonly used Chinese characters in 1981, the character "泄" has been less used. However, the Chinese language is influenced by the old Japanese writing style of "新泄", and often mistakenly writes "新泄/新泄". The Niigata local government issued a special announcement to correct the name, requiring the use of the correct name "Niigata"