Saitama (city)

**Saitama** is the capital city of Saitama Prefecture in Japan. It is in the south-east of the prefecture. It includes the former cities of Urawa, Ōmiya, Yono and Iwatsuki. It is a city designated by government ordinance. It is about 15 - 30 kilometres north of central Tokyo, so many people commute from here into Tokyo. More people live in Saitama than any other prefecture in Saitama.

## History 
The city was founded on May 1, 2001, and was designated on April 1, 2003 as a government ordinance. 

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

## Geography 
The city is 20 to 30&nbsp;km north of central Tokyo. This is the center of the Kantō Plain. The city is mostly below 20 meters above sea level. There are no mountains or hills in the city.

## Wards 
Saitama has ten wards (*ku*), which were assigned official colours as of April 2005:

## Economy 
Manufacturing includes automotive (Honda manufactures the Honda Legend here), food, optical, precision and pharmaceutical products. Iwatsuki is famous for manufacturing *hinamatsuri* dolls and ornate *kabuto* (samurai helmets).

### Transportation 
Saitama is a regional transportation hub for both passengers and freight. Ōmiya Station is the biggest railway hub in the prefecture. The closest major airports are Haneda Airport and Narita International Airport, both about two hours away.

#### Railway Stations 
;  East Japan Railway Company
:  Tōhoku, Akita, Yamagata, Jōetsu and Nagano Shinkansen
:* -  -
:  Utsunomiya Line
:* -  -  - Ōmiya -  -  -
:  Takasaki Line
:* - Urawa - Saitama-Shintoshin - Ōmiya -  -
:  Keihin-Tōhoku Line
:* -  - Urawa -  -  - Saitama-Shintoshin - Ōmiya
:  Saikyō Line
:* -  -  -  -  -  - Ōmiya
:  Musashino Line
:* -  - Musashi-Urawa - Minami-Urawa -  -
:  Kawagoe Line
:* Ōmiya -  -  -  -
;  Saitama Railway Corporation
:  Saitama Rapid Railway Line
:* - 
;  Tobu Railway
:  Tōbu Noda Line
:* Ōmiya -  -  -  -  -  -  -
;  Saitama New Urban Transit
:  New Shuttle
:* Ōmiya -  -  -  -  - 

## Culture 
### Education 
#### Universities 
*Mejiro University
*Nihon University Faculty of Law
*The Open University of Japan Omiya Study Center
*Saitama University
*Shibaura Institute of Technology
*University of Human Arts and Sciences
*Urawa University

#### Junior Colleges 
* Kokusai Gakuin Saitama Junior College
* Urawa University Junior College

#### High Schools 
* Omiya Nishi High School
* Omiya Kita High School
* Urawa High School
* Urawa Minami High school

#### Professional Graduate School 
Omiya Law School

### Sports 
Saitama has two J. League football (soccer) teams: the Urawa Red Diamonds and Omiya Ardija.

### Origin of the name "Saitama" 
The name "Saitama" originally comes from the Sakitama district 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" was changed from kanji into hiragana, thus Saitama City 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.

## Sister cities 
Saitama has six sister cities.

*  Toluca, Mexico (1979)
*  Zhengzhou, China (1981)
*  Hamilton, New Zealand (1984)
*  Richmond, Virginia, United States (1994)
*  Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada (1996)
*  Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States (1998)

## Tourist attractions 
* Akigase Park
* Besshonuma Park
* Hikawa Shrine
* John Lennon Museum
* Minuma Rice Paddies
* Ōmiya Bonsai Village
* Railway Museum
* Saitama Museum of Modern Art
* Saitama Stadium 2002
* Saitama Super Arena
* Sonic City

## Other websites 
* Official website in Japanese
* Official website in English

## References