Saitama Prefecture

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

Capital	Saitama (city)
Region	Kantō
Island	Honshū
Governor	Kiyoshi Ueda
Area	3,797.00 km² (39^th)
- % water	0.5%
Population (October 1, 2000)
- Population	6,938,006 (5^th)
- Density	1,827 /km²
Districts	9
Municipalities	72
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.

Saitama Prefecture was formerly part of the old Musashi Province, which included Tokyo and other areas as well. The Saitama area was historically known as a fertile agricultural region which produced much of the food for the Kantō region.

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.

Map of Saitama Prefecture.

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

Towns and villages in each district:

Chichibu District

Hiki District

Iruma District

Miyoshi

Moroyama

Ogose

Kitaadachi District

Ina

Kitakatsushika District

Kitasaitama District

Kisai

Kitakawabe

Otone

Kodama District

Kamikawa

Kamisato

Misato

Minamisaitama District

Miyashiro

Shiraoka

Shobu

Osato District

Yorii

(as of February 13, 2007)

On January 1, 2001, the cities of Urawa, Omiya and Yono merged to form the city of Saitama.

On January 1, 2005, the village of Naguri from Iruma District merged into the city of Hanno.

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

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

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

On October 1, 2005, the town of Fukiage from Kitaadachi District and the town of Kawasato from Kitasaitama District merged into the city of Konosu.

On October 1, 2005, the city of Kamifukuoka and the town of Oi from Iruma District merged to form the city of Fujimino.

On October 1, 2005, the town of Showa from Kitakatsushika District and the old city of Kasukabe merged to form the new city of Kasukabe.

On October 1, 2005, the towns of Osato and Menuma from Osato District and the old city of Kumagaya merged to form the new city of Kumagaya.

On 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.

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

On January 1, 2006, the village of Minamikawara from Kitasaitama District merged into the city of Gyoda.

On January 10, 2006, the town of Kodama from Kodama District and the old city of Honjo merged to form the new city of Honjo.

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

On February 13, 2007, the town of Konan from Osato District merged into the city of Kumagaya.

Manga (comic) or anime (animation) set in Saitama include: Ace o Nerae! (set in Saitama city), Ai Yori Aoshi, Bokusatsu Tenshi Dokuro-chan, Buso Renkin, Captain Tsubasa (Saitama city), Crayon Shin-chan (Kasukabe), Kōgyō Aika Volleyboys, Lucky Star, Magical Teacher Negima! (Saitama city or Kawagoe), My Neighbor Totoro (Tokorozawa), Ōkiku Furikabutte (Saitama city), and Shakugan no Shana (Saitama city).
Films Inu no Eiga and Waterboys (Kawagoe) are also set in Saitama.

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 (The United States of America), affiliated on October 22, 1990
Brandenburg (Federal Republic of Germany), affiliated on August 26, 1998
California (The United States of America, to be scheduled)

The sports teams listed below are based in Saitama.

Urawa Reds (Saitama)
Omiya Ardija (Saitama)

Seibu Lions (Tokorozawa)

Saitama Broncos (Tokorozawa)

Takefuji Bamboo (Kitakatsushika District)

Secom Rugguts (Sayama)

As mentioned in “History”, most of the cities in the prefecture are closely connected with downtown Tokyo by railroad, and those cities are characterized as "bedroom communities" (“Bed Town” in Japanese English) of Tokyo. This is also the case with much of western Chiba Prefecture. Therefore when compared with other neighboring prefectures such as Kanagawa and Tokyo, Saitama does not have much to offer in the way of tourism.

Most of the popular tourist sites in Saitama are located in the northwestern part of the prefecture, which is known as “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 the residents of Saitama and neighboring prefectures for short trips, for it is easily accessible via the railroad network.

Chichibu 34 Kannon Sanctuary
Chichibu Shrine
Gyoda City Provincial Museum
Iwatsuki Doll Museum
John Lennon Museum

Keyashi-hiroba Park
Kitain Temple
Omiya Bonsai Village
Saitama Super Arena
Sakitama Fudoki Hill

Float in Night Festival, Chichibu.

Chichibu Night Festival (秩父夜祭)

This festival is held by Chichibu Shrine annually on December second and third, which and has been held for more than 300 years. It is very famous for the parade of the six traditional wooden floats (each one weighing more than 10 tons). It 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 Gifu).

Saitama City is the host city for the finals of the 2006 FIBA World Championship running until September 3, 2006.

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. [1]

Saitama has been compared to New Jersey in the U.S., in that it is 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.