Miura Peninsula


The Miura Peninsula is a peninsula located in Kanagawa, Japan. It lies south of Yokohama and Tokyo and divides Tokyo Bay, to the east, from Sagami Bay, to the west. Cities and towns on the Miura Peninsula include Yokosuka, Miura, Hayama, Zushi, and Kamakura.

Overview

The peninsula is a bedroom community for those who work in Tokyo and is also popular tourist destination for people from Tokyo. It is also an important area of Japan's self-defense, with the National Defense Academy of Japan on the western side of the peninsula and the Yokosuka Naval Base, serving both the Japanese Maritime Self Defence Force and the United States Seventh Fleet, on the eastern side.
A significant portion of Tokyo's electricity is generated at Tokyo Electric's power station at Uraga, and important R&D activities on the next-generation mobile phones are done at Yokosuka Research Park.

Three lighthouses

There are three important lighthouses on Miura Peninsula. Kannonzaki Lighthouse stands at the easternmost tip of the peninsula, facing Cape Futtsu across the bay. At Cape Tsurugi on the eastern side of the southernmost tip of the peninsula is the Tsurugisaki Lighthouse, one of Japan's oldest western style lighthouses, first illuminated in 1871. On the island of Jōgashima, off the southernmost and western tip of the peninsula, stands the Jōgashima Lighthouse.