Saitama Prefecture Article Index for
Saitama
Website Links For
Saitama
 

Information About

Saitama Prefecture





Prefecture Information

  Name Saitama
  JapaneseName 埼玉県 ''Saitama-ken''
  Symbol PrefSymbol-Saitamapng
  Capital Saitama
  Region Kantō
  Island Honshū
  TotalArea 3,79700
  AreaRank 39th
  PCWater 05
  PopDate October 1 , 2000
  Population 6,938,006
  PopRank 5th
  Density 1,827
  Districts 9
  Municipalities 70
  ISOCode JP-11
  Flower Primrose ('' Primula &nbspsieboldii'')
  Tree Keyaki ('' Zelkova Serrata '')
  Bird Eurasian Collared Dove (''Streptopelia&nbspdecaocto'')
  Map Map of Japan with highlight on 11 Saitama 埼玉県svg
  Website [http://wwwprefsaitamalgjp/index_ehtml wwwprefsaitamalgjp/<br/>index_ehtml]
  Governor Kiyoshi Ueda


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 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.


GEOGRAPHY


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


Cities



Towns and villages


Towns and villages in each District :


Mergers





  • merged into the city of Saitama .














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


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 Line s 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
http://www.heli-express.com/index.html?lan=en.

Honda Airport for General Aviation and JASDF Iruma,http://www.mod.go.jp/asdf/iruma/ and Kumagayahttp://www.mod.go.jp/asdf/kumagaya/ Air Bases offer no scheduled transport services.


Waterways

Rivers and canals including those developed in the as of 2007-05-24T12:50. and
on Arakawa River a tourist attraction in Nagatoro, Chichibu District {Link without Title} as of 2007-06-20. and
, as 2007-06-12日T11:57..


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).


SPORTS

The sports teams listed below are based in Saitama.


Football (soccer)



Baseball



Basketball



Volleyball



Rugby



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


  • 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 ).



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. {Link without Title}


  • 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: sucks because it's Saitama.



REFERENCES


Notes



External links