Saitama (city)

The name Saitama originally comes from the Sakitama District (埼玉郡) of what is now the city of Gyōda 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'yōshū. The pronunciation has changed from Sakitama to Saitama over the years.

With the merger of Urawa, Ōmiya, 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 belongs to the list of hiragana cities.

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

The city is located 20 to 30 km north of central Tokyo, roughly at the center of the Kantō Plain. Situated in the southeast of Saitama Prefecture, the city is topographically comprised by lowlands and plateaus, at mostly less than 20 m above sea level, with no mountain ranges or hills within the city boundaries. The western portion of the city lies on the lowland created by the Arakawa River along with those created by small rivers such as the Moto-Arakawa River, Shiba River, and Ayase River. The rest of the area mostly resides on the Ōmiya Plateau lying in the north-south direction. Dispersed in this region, major rivers flow southward, almost paralleling to one another.

Per Japanese census data,[4] the population of Saitama has increased steadily over the past century.

Saitama has ten wards (ku), which were assigned official colors as of April 2005:

Wards of Saitama
	Place name				Map of Saitama
	Rōmaji	Kanji	Color	Area (km2)
1	Chūō-ku	中央区	■ (rose red)	8.39	A map of Saitama's Wards
2	Iwatsuki-ku	岩槻区	■ (ochre)	49.17
3	Kita-ku	北区	■ (dark green)	16.86
4	Midori-ku	緑区	■ (green)	26.44
5	Minami-ku	南区	■ (lemon yellow)	13.82
6	Minuma-ku	見沼区	■ (sky blue)	30.69
7	Nishi-ku	西区	■ (blue)	29.12
8	Ōmiya-ku	大宮区	■ (orange)	12.80
9	Sakura-ku	桜区	■ (cherry blossom pink)	18.64
10	Urawa-ku	浦和区	■ (red) - administrative center	11.51

Pink: former Urawa
Blue: former Ōmiya
Green: former Yono
Yellow: former Iwatsuki

The city was founded on May 1, 2001, and was designated on April 1, 2003 as a government ordinance. For the histories of Urawa, Ōmiya and Yono before the merger, see:

• Urawa-ku, Saitama
• Ōmiya-ku, Saitama and
• Yono, Saitama, respectively.

On April 1, 2005, Saitama absorbed the city of Iwatsuki to its east, which became a new ward, Iwatsuki-ku.

Saitama has a mayor-council form of government with a directly elected mayor and a unicameral city council of 64 members. Saitama contributes 14 members to the Saitama Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is divided between the Saitama 1st district, Saitama 5th district and Saitama 15th districts of the lower house of the Diet of Japan.

Saitama's economy is principally constituted by commercial business. The city is one of many commercial centers of the Greater Tokyo area and serves Saitama Prefecture, North Kanto, and northeast Honshu.

Saitama is also home to various manufacturers, exporting automotive (Honda manufactures the Honda Legend at Sayama Plant), food, optical, precision and pharmaceutical products. Calsonic Kansei, a global automotive company is headquartered in the city.[6] Iwatsuki is famous for manufacturing of hinamatsuri dolls and ornate kabuto (samurai helmets).

The political and administrative center of the city is Urawa Ward (Urawa Station area), and the economic, commercial, and transportation center is Omiya Ward (Omiya Station area). Located approximately 20 km to 35 km from central Tokyo, Saitama City is a satellite city and bed town in the Tokyo metropolitan area, with a day-night population ratio of 92.8 in 2010, which is less than 100 despites being the prefectural capital and an ordinance-designated city (the southeastern part of Saitama Prefecture). (The southeastern area of Saitama Prefecture tends to be a suburb of Tokyo, and the day/night population ratio is particularly low in Minami ward and Midori ward, which are close to the center of Tokyo). Of the 747,000 commuters permanently residing in the city, 175,000, or 23.5%, commute to the Tokyo Special Wards area, making the city home to many so-called "Saitama Tomin". On the other hand, the former Urawa and Omiya cities were designated as core business cities in 1988, and in 2000, Saitama New Urban Center was opened and local branches of various central government offices were relocated from Tokyo. The southern part of the city, which is closer to Tokyo, tends to have a higher population density than the northern part. In addition, population tends to be concentrated along the Keihin Tohoku Line, Utsunomiya Line, Takasaki Line, and Saikyo Line, which directly connect to central Tokyo, and where both conditions overlap, there is a series of high population density areas of over 20,000 people/km2 from Minami ward to Urawa and Chuo ward. Urban functions such as administration, commerce, and business are concentrated around major stations such as Urawa, Omiya, and Saitama-new urban stations, which have formed the central urban area since the time of the former Urawa and Omiya cities (the center of the former Yono City is Yono-honmachi Station). The former Omiya City developed as a railroad town and commercial center, and Omiya Station in particular is one of the busiest and most prominent terminal stations in the Tokyo metropolitan area, with all Shinkansen bullet trains stopping there. The Urawa area is also known as an educational district with Saitama University and Saitama Prefectural Urawa High School, as well as an upscale residential area. The Iwatsuki Station area on the Tobu Noda Line (Tobu Urban Park Line) is also a part of the former Iwatsuki City's central urban area.

Omiya Station, a major railway hub in Saitama

Representative station is Urawa Station. Saitama is a regional transportation hub for both passengers and freight train lines. Ōmiya Station, part of the Shinkansen high-speed train network, serves as the biggest railway hub in the prefecture.

The closest major airports are Haneda Airport and Narita International Airport, both about two hours away.[7] Honda Airport in Okegawa is for general aviation and offers no scheduled transport services. Commuter helicopter flights to Narita Airport are offered from Kawajima.[8]

Saitama has six sister cities.[9]

• Toluca, State of Mexico, Mexico (1979)
• Zhengzhou, Henan, China (1981)
• Hamilton, New Zealand (1984)
• Richmond, Virginia, United States (1994)
• Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada (1996)
• Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States (1998)
• Leipzig, Saxony, Germany (2020)

Saitama Museum of Modern Art

• Akigase Park
• Besshonuma Park
• Hikawa Shrine
• Minuma Rice Paddies
• Minuma Tsūsen-bori
• Ōmiya Bonsai Village
• Railway Museum
• Saitama New Urban Center
• Saitama Stadium 2002
• Saitama Super Arena
• Saitama Museum of Modern Art
• Irumagawa stable

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Saitama, Saitama.

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Saitama.

• Official Website (in Japanese)