Saitama, Saitama

is the capital and the most populous city of Saitama Prefecture in Japan. It was created by the merger of the cities of Urawa, Omiya, and Yono in 2001. It merged with the city of Iwatsuki in 2005. It has been a city designated by government ordinance since 2003. Many of its residents commute into Tokyo.

Demographics

As of 2003, the city had an estimated population of 1,053,035 and a population density of 6,255.78 persons per km². The total area is 168.33 km². As of January 1, 2005 Iwatsuki-ku had an estimated population of 111,974 in area of 49.16 km².

Wards

Saitama has 10 wards (ku):

Chūō-ku (中央区)
Iwatsuki-ku (岩槻区)
Kita-ku (北区)
Midori-ku (緑区)
Minami-ku (南区)
Minuma-ku (見沼区)
Nishi-ku (西区)
Ōmiya-ku (大宮区)
Sakura-ku (桜区)
Urawa-ku (浦和区)

Economy

Transportation

Saitama, especially Omiya has been a regional transportation hub for railways and roads for both passengers and cargo. The radial traffic to and from Tokyo and the arc traffic bypassing Tokyo often merge here. This includes daily commuter traffic, regional and national traffic of agricultural and industrial products as well as seasonal vacations. Rail and road development in the past 25 years at last seems to have caught up with the slowing of traffic demand.

Honda Airport in Okegawa is for general aviation and offers no scheduled transport services. A trip from almost domestic Haneda Airport or Narita International Airport takes about two hours.

Due to the Football World Cup 2002, the Nanboku Line of the Tokyo Metro system was extended from Akabane-Iwabuchi all the way to Urawa-Misono: however, the name of the line changes from Nanboku to Saitama Railway when the train passes the official boundary of Tokyo and Saitama. The extension of the metro obviously gave a boost to the neigborhood, and parts of Saitama are increasingly popular to live in, being about a 30–40 minute commute to central Tokyo.

Culture

Sports

Saitama is home to two J. League football (soccer) teams: the popular Urawa Red Diamonds, owned by Mitsubishi and Omiya Ardija, owned by NTT. The new Saitama Stadium hosted many football games of the 2002 World Cup, including one of the semifinals.

Tokorozawa, Saitama is home city to the popular and successful proessional baseball team the Seibu Lions who are owned by Seibu and whose home field is the Seibu Dome.

They are also home to the Japan professional basketball team the Saitama Broncos

In 2006, Saitama will host, at the Saitama Super Arena, some games of the Basketball World Championship 2006, including the final. The Rolling Stones performed at the arena in April of 2006.

History

The city was founded on May 1, 2001 and was designated on April 1, 2003 by government ordinance. On April 1, 2005 it merged with the city of Iwatsuki to its east, which became a new ward Iwatsuki-ku.

Origin of the name "Saitama"

The name "Saitama" originally comes from the Sakitama (埼玉郡) district of what is now the city of Gyoda in the northern part of what is now known as Saitama Prefecture. "Sakitama" has an ancient history and is mentioned in the famous 8th century poetry anthology Man'yoshu. The pronunciation has changed from Sakitama to Saitama over the years.

With the merger of Urawa, Omiya, and Yono it was decided that a new name, one fitting for this newly-created prefectural capital, was needed. The prefectural name "Saitama" (埼玉県) was changed from kanji into hiragana, thus Saitama City (さいたま市) was born. It is the only prefectural capital in Japan whose name is always written in hiragana, and a member of the hiragana cities.

However, Saitama written in hiragana (さいたま市) finished in second in public polling to Saitama written in kanji (埼玉市). Despite this, government officials decided to name the new city Saitama: written in hiragana, not kanji. In third place in the poll was Omiya (大宮市). In fourth was Saitama (彩玉市), written with an alternative kanji for "sai" (彩) that means "colorful". The "sai" (埼) used in the prefectural name is a rare form of a common character (崎) that means cape or promontory.

Points of interest

External links

Official website in Japanese
Official website in English

Cities in Saitama Prefecture

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