Saitama Prefecture

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**Saitama Prefecture (埼玉県 *Saitama-ken*)**

Capital	Saitama
Region	Kantō
Island	Honshū
Governor	Kiyoshi Ueda
Area	3,797.00 km² (39th)
- % water	0.5%
Population (October 1, 2000)
- Population	6,938,006 (5th)
- Density	1,827 /km²
Districts	9
Municipalities	70
ISO 3166-2	JP-11
Website	www.pref.saitama.lg.jp/ index_e.html
Prefectural Symbols
- Flower	Primrose (Primula sieboldii)
- Tree	Keyaki (Zelkova serrata)
- Bird	Eurasian collared dove (Streptopelia decaocto)
Symbol of Saitama Prefecture

Saitama Prefecture (埼玉県, Saitama-ken^?) 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.

[edit] 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 Kantō 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.

[edit] Geography

Map of Saitama Prefecture.

Saitama Prefecture is bordered by Tokyo, Chiba, Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma, Nagano, and Yamanashi.

[edit] Cities

[edit] Towns and villages

Towns and villages in each district:

Chichibu District

Hiki District

Iruma District

Miyoshi

Moroyama

Ogose

Kitaadachi District

Ina

Kitakatsushika District

Kitasaitama District

Kisai

Kitakawabe

Ōtone

Kodama District

Kamikawa

Kamisato

Misato

Minamisaitama District

Miyashiro

Shiraoka

Shōbu

Ōsato District

Yorii

[edit] Mergers

(as of February 13, 2007)

January 1, 2001: The cities of Urawa, Ōmiya and Yono merged to form the city of Saitama.

January 1, 2005: The village of Naguri from Iruma District merged into the city of Hannō.

April 1, 2005: The town of Yoshida and the villages of Arakawa and Ōtaki (all from Chichibu District) and the old city of Chichibu merged to form the new city of Chichibu.

April 1, 2005: The city of Iwatsuki merged into the city of Saitama.

October 1, 2005: The village of Ryōkami and the old town of Ogano (both from Chichibu District) merged to form the new town of Ogano in Chichibu District.

October 1, 2005: The the town of Fukiage from Kitaadachi District and the town of Kawasato from Kitasaitama District merged into the city of Kōnosu.

October 1, 2005: The city of Kamifukuoka and the town of Ōi from Iruma District merged to form the city of Fujimino.

October 1, 2005: The town of Shōwa from Kitakatsushika District and the old city of Kasukabe merged to form the new city of Kasukabe.

October 1, 2005: The towns of Ōsato and Menuma from Ōsato District and the old city of Kumagaya merged to form the new city of Kumagaya.

January 1, 2006: 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 1, 2006: The towns of Hanazono, Kawamoto and Okabe (all from Ōsato District) and the old city of Fukaya merged to form the new city of Fukaya.

January 1, 2006: The village of Minamikawara from Kitasaitama District merged into the city of Gyōda.

January 10, 2006: The town of Kodama from Kodama District and the old city of Honjō merged to form the new city of Honjō.

February 1, 2006: The villages of Tamagawa and Tokigawa from Hiki District merged to form the new town of Tokigawa.

February 13, 2007: The town of Kōnan from Ōsato District merged into the city of Kumagaya.

[edit] Transportation

Radial transportation to and from Tokyo dominates transportation in the prefecture. Circular routes were constructed as bypasses to avoid congestion in central Tokyo.

[edit] Roads

The Jōban, Kan-etsu, Shuto, Tōhoku, and Tokyo-Gaikan expressways form parts of the nationwide expressway network. National highway Routes 4, 16, and 17 are important routes in Kantō region.

[edit] Railways

Ōmiya 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 Hachikō 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.

[edit] 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.

[edit] 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 Wakō^[6].

[edit] Culture

[edit] Mass media

See Mass media in Saitama Prefecture.

[edit] 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 City (The United States of America), affiliated on October 22, 1990
Brandenburg (Federal Republic of Germany), affiliated on August 26, 1998

[edit] Sports

The sports teams listed below are based in Saitama.

[edit] 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.

[edit] Visitor attractions

[edit] Events

Float in Night Festival, Chichibu.

Chichibu Night Festival (秩父夜祭)

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 (祇園祭) in Kyoto and Hida-Takayama Festival (飛騨高山祭) in Takayama, Gifu).

[edit] Miscellaneous topics

Kobaton (コバトン) 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.