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Saitama Prefecture

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{{Japanese prefecture | Name = Saitama | JapaneseName = 埼玉県; ''Saitama-ken'' | Symbol = PrefSymbol-Saitama.png | Capital = Saitama, Saitama Saitama (city) | Region = Kanto region Kanto | Island = Honshu | TotalArea = 3,797.00 | AreaRank = 39^th | PCWater = 0.5 | PopDate = October 1, 2000 | Population = 6,938,006 | PopRank = 5^th | Density = 1,827 | Districts = 9 | Municipalities = 72 | ISOCode = JP-11 | Flower = Primrose (''Primula sieboldii'') | Tree = Keyaki tree (''Zelkova serrata'') | Bird = Eurasian collared dove (''Streptopelia decaocto'') | Map = Japan Saitama large.png | Website = [http://www.pref.saitama.lg.jp/index_e.html www.pref.saitama.lg.jp/
index_e.html] | Governor = Kiyoshi Ueda }} '''Saitama Prefecture''' (埼玉県; ''Saitama-ken'') is located on Honshu island, Japan. The capital is the city of Saitama, Saitama 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, 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 Kanto 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.

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

Cities
{| |valign="top"| *Ageo, Saitama Ageo *Asaka, Saitama Asaka *Chichibu, Saitama Chichibu *Fujimi, Saitama Fujimi *Fujimino, Saitama Fujimino *Fukaya, Saitama Fukaya *Gyoda, Saitama Gyoda *Hanno, Saitama Hanno *Hanyu, Saitama Hanyu *Hasuda, Saitama Hasuda *Hatogaya, Saitama Hatogaya *Hidaka, Saitama Hidaka *Higashimatsuyama, Saitama Higashimatsuyama *Honjo, Saitama Honjo |valign="top"| *Iruma, Saitama Iruma *Kamifukuoka, Saitama Kamifukuoka *Kasukabe, Saitama Kasukabe *Kawagoe, Saitama Kawagoe *Kawaguchi, Saitama Kawaguchi *Kazo, Saitama Kazo *Kitamoto, Saitama Kitamoto *Koshigaya, Saitama Koshigaya *Kounosu, Saitama Konosu *Kuki, Saitama Kuki *Kumagaya, Saitama Kumagaya *Misato, Saitama Misato *Niiza, Saitama Niiza *Okegawa, Saitama Okegawa |valign="top"| *Saitama, Saitama Saitama (capital) *Sakado, Saitama Sakado *Satte, Saitama Satte *Sayama, Saitama Sayama *Shiki, Saitama Shiki *Soka, Saitama Soka *Toda, Saitama Toda *Tokorozawa, Saitama Tokorozawa *Tsurugashima, Saitama Tsurugashima *Wako, Saitama Wako *Warabi, Saitama Warabi *Yashio, Saitama Yashio *Yoshikawa, Saitama Yoshikawa |}

Towns and villages
These are the towns and villages in each districts of Japan district. {| |valign="top"| *Chichibu District, Saitama Chichibu District **Higashichichibu, Saitama Higashichichibu **Minano, Saitama Minano **Nagatoro, Saitama Nagatoro **Ogano, Saitama Ogano **Yokoze, Saitama Yokoze *Hiki District, Saitama Hiki District **Hatoyama, Saitama Hatoyama **Kawajima, Saitama Kawajima **Namegawa, Saitama Namegawa **Ogawa, Saitama Ogawa **Ranzan, Saitama Ranzan **Tokigawa, Saitama Tokigawa **Yoshimi, Saitama Yoshimi |valign="top"| *Iruma District, Saitama Iruma District **Miyoshi, Saitama Miyoshi **Moroyama, Saitama Moroyama **Ogose, Saitama Ogose *Kitaadachi District, Saitama Kitaadachi District **Ina, Saitama Ina *Kitakatsushika District, Saitama Kitakatsushika District **Kurihashi, Saitama Kurihashi **Matsubushi, Saitama Matsubushi **Sugito, Saitama Sugito **Washimiya, Saitama Washimiya *Kitasaitama District, Saitama Kitasaitama District **Kisai, Saitama Kisai **Kitakawabe, Saitama Kitakawabe **Otone, Saitama Otone |valign="top"| *Kodama District, Saitama Kodama District **Kamikawa, Saitama Kamikawa **Kamisato, Saitama Kamisato **Misato, Saitama Misato *Minamisaitama District, Saitama Minamisaitama District **Miyashiro, Saitama Miyashiro **Shiraoka, Saitama Shiraoka **Shobu, Saitama Shobu *Osato District, Saitama Osato District **Konan, Saitama Konan **Yorii, Saitama Yorii |}

Mergers
(as of February 12006) *On January 12001, the cities of Urawa, Saitama Urawa, Omiya, Saitama Omiya and Yono, Saitama Yono merged to form the city of Saitama, Saitama Saitama. *On January 12005, the village of Naguri, Saitama Naguri from Iruma District, Saitama Iruma District merged into the city of Hanno, Saitama Hanno. *On April 12005, the town of Yoshida, Saitama Yoshida and the villages of Arakawa, Saitama Arakawa and Otaki, Saitama Otaki (all from from Chichibu District, Saitama Chichibu District) and the old city of Chichibu, Saitama Chichibu merged to form the new city of Chichibu, Saitama Chichibu. *On April 12005, the city of Iwatsuki, Saitama Iwatsuki merged into the city of Saitama, Saitama Saitama. *On October 12005, the village of Ryokami, Saitama Ryokami and the old town of Ogano, Saitama Ogano (both from Chichibu District, Saitama Chichibu District) merged to form the new town of Ogano, Saitama Ogano in Chichibu District, Saitama Chichibu District. *On October 12005, the town of Fukiage, Saitama Fukiage from Kitaadachi District, Saitama Kitaadachi District and the town of Kawasato, Saitama Kawasato from Kitasaitama District, Saitama Kitasaitama District merged into the city of Kounosu, Saitama Konosu. *On October 12005, the city of Kamifukuoka, Saitama Kamifukuoka and the town of Oi, Saitama Oi from Iruma District, Saitama Iruma District merged to form the city of Fujimino, Saitama Fujimino. *On October 12005, the town of Showa, Saitama Showa from Kitakatsushika District, Saitama Kitakatsushika District and the old city of Kasukabe, Saitama Kasukabe merged to form the new city of Kasukabe, Saitama Kasukabe. *On October 12005, the towns of Osato, Saitama Osato and Menuma, Saitama Menuma from Osato District, Saitama Osato District and the old city of Kumagaya, Saitama Kumagaya merged to form the new city of Kumagaya, Saitama Kumagaya. *On January 12006, the village of Kamiizumi, Saitama Kamiizumi and the old town of Kamikawa, Saitama Kamikawa (both from Kodama District, Saitama Kodama District) merged to form the new town of Kamikawa, Saitama Kamikawa in Kodama District, Saitama Kodama District. *On January 12006, the towns of Hanazono, Saitama Hanazono, Kawamoto, Saitama Kawamoto and Okabe, Saitama Okabe (all from Osato District, Saitama Osato District) and the old city of Fukaya, Saitama Fukaya merged to form the new city of Fukaya, Saitama Fukaya. *On January 12006, the village of Minamikawara, Saitama Minamikawara from Kitasaitama District, Saitama Kitasaitama District merged into the city of Gyoda, Saitama Gyoda. *On January 102006, the town of Kodama, Saitama Kodama from Kodama District, Saitama Kodama District and the old city of Honjo, Saitama Honjo merged to form the new city of Honjo, Saitama Honjo. *On February 12006, the villages of Tamagawa, Saitama Tamagawa and Tokigawa, Saitama Tokigawa from Hiki District, Saitama Hiki District merged to form the new ''town'' of Tokigawa, Saitama Tokigawa.

Economy


Demographics


Culture


Sister-city exchanges
Saitama Prefecture has a number of sister city relationships with states and a province as listed below (in chronological order). *Mexico (state) The State of México (Mexico The United Mexican States), affiliated on October second, 1979 *Shanxi province (The People's Republic of China), affiliated on October twenty seventh, 1982 *Queensland (Commonwealth of Australia), affiliated on October twenty seventh, 1984 *Ohio (The United States of America), affiliated on October twenty second, 1990 *Brandenburg (Federal Republic of Germany), affiliated on August twenty sixth, 1998 *California (The United States of America, to be scheduled)

Tourism
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 it is surrounded by a rich natural environment. This region is very popular among the residents of Saitama and neighboring prefectures for short trips, for it is easily accessible via the railroad network.

Tourist spots
*Omiya Bonsai Village (大宮盆栽村, Bonsai, Saitama city (さいたま市大宮区盆栽町)) :Omiya Bonsai Village was established in 1925 by a group of professional bonsai gardeners who originally lived around Dango-Zaka (Hongo) area in Tokyo and emigrated from there due to the crucial damages caused by the Great KantÅ? earthquake in 1923. Today Bonsai Village nurses hundreds of thousands of bonsai trees (bonsai pots) in a site of about 330,000 square meters. It is known as a Mecca of bonsai at home and abroad, and number of bonsai devotees visit there from all over the world. This area is also known as a very popular tourist spot among foreign people. :Bonsai Village consists of about ten privately owned bonsai gardens, and it is famous that the current residence indication itself is also “Bonsaiâ€?. The community members of Bonsai Village used to have some unique rules among them (especially when they found there), such as “Each members must bring up more than 10 pots of bonsai.â€?, â€?Each members must open their gardens to the public.â€?, Each members must build the fence of quickset hedgeâ€?, “To construct the height of more than two story buildings are strictly regulated.â€? and so on (of course these rules had already become invalid, for this area is also located in the commuter belt to Tokyo today). :Annually Bonsai Village holds “Great Bonsai Festivalâ€? from May third to fifth. And this area is packed with many bonsai devotees from all over Japan during this festival. :Bonsai Village is located near “Omiya Koen (大宮公園, Omiya Park)â€? station at Tobu Noda Line (it takes about 2 minutes from the station on foot), which is connecting with Japan Railway JR Omiya station (JR大宮駅). It is closed on every Thursday (unless the Thursday falls on a national holiday). :(See also "Omiya-ku, Saitama".) * Chichibu Shrine * Chichibu 34 Kannon Sanctuary * Sakitama Fudoki Hill * Gyoda City Provincial Museum * Iwatsuki Doll Museum * Kitain Temple * Saitama Super Arena * Keyashi-hiroba Park

Events
Image:ChichibuNightFestival.jpg thumb|250px|right|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).

Prefectural symbols


Miscellaneous topics
*Kobaton (コバトン) :“Kobatonâ€? is a mascot of the prefecture which was made in the motif of Shirako-bato (Eurasian collared dove), the prefectural symbol bird. Kobaton was made originally as a mascot of the fifty ninth annual national athletic meeting held in the prefecture in 2004. Since it became very popular among the residents through the promotion campaign of the athletic meeting, he has inaugurated as a mascot of the prefecture in 2005, in succession to the athletic meeting. When Kobaton was inaugurated, the prefectural government held the inauguration ceremony for him, and handed a letter of appointment from the governor. A wheelchair-bound version of Kobaton also exists. [http://www.pref.saitama.lg.jp/what/what_kobaton.html]

External links

- Official Saitama Prefecture homepage {{Saitama}} {{Japan}} Category:Saitama Prefecture * Category:Kanto region Category:Prefectures of Japan de:Präfektur Saitama et:Saitama prefektuur es:Prefectura de Saitama eo:Saitama (prefektujo) fr:Préfecture de Saitama ko:사�타마 현 ja:埼玉県 pt:Saitama sv:Saitama prefektur zh:埼玉縣 see Saitama Prefecture '''Saitama Prefecture''' (埼玉県; ''Saitama-ken'') is a Prefectures of Japan prefecture located in the Kanto region on Honshu Honshu island, Japan. The capital is the city of Saitama, Saitama Saitama. {{catmore}} {{Saitama}} Category:Prefectures of Japan Category:Kanto region ja:Category:埼玉県 ko:Category:사�타마 현

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