Discover

is a municipality classified as a city, located in Tokyo, Japan.
Its southern half form part of the Tama New Town project, Japan's largest residential development, constructed in the 1970's.
The city is located in the northern part of a large area of hills in south-western Tokyo, known as Tama Hills, which spans Tokyo and Kanagawa prefectures. The entire region is historically referred to as Tama; therefore there are many place names scattered throughout the area with references to the name "Tama" which are not within the city limits. For example, Tama is the name of a ward several kilometres away under the jurisdiction of Kawasaki City in Kanagawa prefecture. Tama River marks the city's northern boundary.
Tama is home to Tama Hills, a recreational facility of the U.S. Air Force, intended for use by United States service members and their families, as well as Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force service members and their families.
It is also home to the well known Sanrio theme park, Sanrio Puroland ("Hello Kitty-land").

Contents

History

Institutions

Transport

Tama in Fiction

External links

History

Tama as a municipality was founded on April 1, 1889 as “Tama Village” in what was then the Minamitama District from the merger of 10 pre-Meiji villages. On April 1, 1964, Tama Village was reclassified as Tama Town.
Construction of Tama New Town began in 1966, and the first occupants started moving in in 1971. On November 1, 1971, Tama Town was reclassified as Tama City, dissolving Minamitama District. Tama was the last town in the former Minamitama District.

Institutions

★ Keisen Women's University

★ Tama University

★ Kokushikan University Tama Campus

★ Teikyo University Hachioji Campus

★ National Farmer's Academy

Transport

From Shinjuku (central Tokyo) Tama can easily be reached by the Keio line or the Odakyu Tama line.
From the Tama-Center Station to the north leads the 16 kilometer long double tracked Tama Toshi Monorail Line with Kamikitadai as its final station.

Tama in Fiction

Tama is the location for the animated feature films Whisper of the Heart and Pom Poko by Japan's Studio Ghibli, the latter of which depicts a fictionalized account of Tama New Town's construction.
It has been speculated that The Cat Returns, also by Studio Ghibli, is similarly set in Tama.

External links

★ Tama official website in Japanese

★ Wikitravel: Tokyo/Tama

★ Hospitals in Japanese