is located on
Honshū island,
Japan. The capital is the city of
Saitama.
This prefecture is part of the
Greater Tokyo Area, and most of Saitama's cities can be described as suburbs of
Tokyo, to which floods of residents commute each day.
History
Saitama Prefecture was formerly part of the old
Musashi Province.
In the fifth year of the
Keiun era (
708), deposits of copper were reported to have been found in the
Chichibu District of what is now Saitama Prefecture.
The Saitama area was historically known as a fertile agricultural region which produced much of the food for the KantÅ region. During the
Edo period, many
fudai daimyo ruled small domains within the Saitama area.
After
World War II, as Tokyo expanded rapidly and modern transportation allowed longer commutes, the lack of available land in Tokyo led to the rapid development of Saitama Prefecture, whose population has nearly tripled since
1960. Most of the cities in the prefecture are closely connected to downtown Tokyo by metropolitan rail, and operate largely as residential and commercial suburbs of Tokyo.
Geography
Map of Saitama Prefecture.
Saitama Prefecture is bordered by
Tokyo,
Chiba,
Ibaraki,
Tochigi,
Gunma,
Nagano, and
Yamanashi.
Cities
Towns and villages
Towns and villages in each
district:
Mergers
★
January 12001: The cities of
Urawa,
Omiya and
Yono merged to form the city of
Saitama.
★
January 12005: The village of
Naguri from
Iruma District merged into the city of
Hanno.
★
April 12005: The town of
Yoshida and the villages of
Arakawa and
Otaki (all from
Chichibu District) and the old city of
Chichibu merged to form the new city of
Chichibu.
★
April 12005: The city of
Iwatsuki merged into the city of
Saitama.
★
October 12005: The village of
Ryokami and the old town of
Ogano (both from
Chichibu District) merged to form the new town of
Ogano in
Chichibu District.
★
October 12005: The the town of
Fukiage from
Kitaadachi District and the town of
Kawasato from
Kitasaitama District merged into the city of
Konosu.
★
October 12005: The city of
Kamifukuoka and the town of
Oi from
Iruma District merged to form the city of
Fujimino.
★
October 12005: The town of
Showa from
Kitakatsushika District and the old city of
Kasukabe merged to form the new city of
Kasukabe.
★
October 12005: The towns of
Osato and
Menuma from
Osato District and the old city of
Kumagaya merged to form the new city of
Kumagaya.
★
January 12006: The village of
Kamiizumi and the old town of
Kamikawa (both from
Kodama District) merged to form the new town of
Kamikawa in
Kodama District.
★
January 12006: The towns of
Hanazono,
Kawamoto and
Okabe (all from
Osato District) and the old city of
Fukaya merged to form the new city of
Fukaya.
★
January 12006: The village of
Minamikawara from
Kitasaitama District merged into the city of
Gyoda.
★
January 102006: The town of
Kodama from
Kodama District and the old city of
Honjo merged to form the new city of
Honjo.
★
February 12006: The villages of
Tamagawa and
Tokigawa from
Hiki District merged to form the new ''town'' of
Tokigawa.
★
February 132007: The town of
Konan from
Osato District merged into the city of
Kumagaya.
Transportation
Radial transportation to and from Tokyo dominates transportation in the prefecture. Circular routes were constructed as bypasses to avoid congestion in central Tokyo.
Roads
The
JÅban,
Kan-etsu,
Shuto,
TÅhoku, and
Tokyo-Gaikan expressways form parts of the nationwide expressway network. National highway Routes
4,
16, and
17 are important routes in KantÅ region.
Railways
ÅŒmiya Station in Saitama City forms
East Japan Railway Company's northern
hub station in the Greater Tokyo Area, offering transfers to and from
Shinkansen high-speed lines. The
Musashino and
HachikÅ Lines serve as freight bypass lines as well as passenger lines.
Chichibu Railway the northwestern,
Seibu Railway the southwestern,
Tobu Railway the midwestern and the eastern,
the
New Shuttle and
Saitama Railway the southeastern
parts of the prefecture respectively.
The
Tsukuba Express line crosses the southeastern corner of the prefecture.
Airways
Haneda
Tokyo International Airport and
Narita International Airport are the closest major civil airports. Commuter helicopter flights from
Kawajima to Narita Airport are offered
[1].
Honda Airport for
general aviation and
JASDF Iruma,
[2] and Kumagaya
[3] Air Bases offer no scheduled transport services.
Waterways
Rivers and canals including those developed in the
Edo period (17th - 19th centuries) in the east of the prefecture are largely disused following the introduction of motorised land transport. The traces of water transports are found on the
Tone River Kumagaya -
Chiyoda, Gunma border
[4] and
on
Arakawa River a tourist attraction in
Nagatoro, Chichibu District[5] and
petroleum tankers from
Tokyo Bay to
WakÅ[6].
Culture
Mass media
See
Mass media in Saitama Prefecture.
Sister relationships
Saitama Prefecture has a number of sister city relationships with states and a province as listed below (in chronological order).
★
The State of México (
The United Mexican States), affiliated on
October 2,
1979
★
Shanxi province (
The People's Republic of China), affiliated on
October 27,
1982
★
Queensland (Commonwealth of
Australia), affiliated on
October 27,
1984
★
Ohio (
The United States of America), affiliated on
October 22,
1990
★
Brandenburg (
Federal Republic of Germany), affiliated on
August 26,
1998
Sports
The sports teams listed below are based in Saitama.
Football (soccer)
★
Urawa Reds (
Saitama)
★
Omiya Ardija (
Saitama)
Baseball
★
Seibu Lions (
Tokorozawa)
Basketball
★
Saitama Broncos (
Tokorozawa)
Volleyball
★
Takefuji Bamboo (
Kitakatsushika District)
Rugby
★
Secom Rugguts (
Sayama)
Tourism
Most of the popular tourist sites in Saitama are located in the northwestern part of the prefecture, which is known as the
Chichibu Region. This region mostly consists of a hilly and moderately mountainous area, and is situated in a rich natural environment. The region is very popular among residents of Saitama and neighboring prefectures for short trips, as it is easily accessible via the railroad network.
Visitor attractions
Events
Float in Night Festival, Chichibu.
★ Chichibu Night Festival (秩父夜ç¥)
This festival is held by Chichibu Shrine annually on
2 December and
3 December, and has been held for more than 300 years. It is famous for the parade of six traditional wooden floats (each one weighing more than 10 tons), and is counted as one of the three big traditional float festivals in Japan (along with
Gion Festival (祇園ç¥) in
Kyoto and
Hida-Takayama Festival (飛騨高山ç¥) in
Takayama, Gifu).
Miscellaneous topics
★ Kobaton (コãƒãƒˆãƒ³) is the prefectural mascot, a Eurasian collared dove, which is also the prefectural bird. Kobaton was made originally as the mascot of the fifty- ninth annual national athletic meeting held in the prefecture in 2004, and was inaugurated as mascot of the prefecture in 2005 with an inauguration ceremony and a letter of appointment from the governor. A wheelchair-using version of Kobaton also exists.
[2]
★ Saitama is considered heavily industrialized, largely built-up, and unfashionable. "Dasai, meaning "uncool," is sometimes ironically or insultingly combined with Saitama to form "Dasaitama." In fact, the etymology for the slang "dasai" or "uncool" has been traced by some vernacular linguists to the phrase "datte saitama da mon" which roughly translates to: [it sucks] because it's Saitama.
References
Notes
1. http://www.heli-express.com/index.html?lan=en
2. http://www.mod.go.jp/asdf/iruma/
3. http://www.mod.go.jp/asdf/kumagaya/
4. as of 2007-05-24T12:50.
5. [1] as of 2007-06-20.
6. , as 2007-06-12æ—¥T11:57.
External links
★
Official Saitama Prefecture homepage
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