Saitama, Saitama

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**Saitama City**
**さいたま市**
Location
Country	Japan
Region	Kantō
Prefecture	Saitama Prefecture
Physical characteristics
Area	217.49 km²
Population (as of July 1, 2006)
Total	1,182,115
Density	5,435/km²
Location	35°51′42″N, 139°38′43″E
Symbols
Tree	Zelkova serrata(Keyaki)
Flower	Primula(Sakura-sou)
Image:Shisho.jpg Symbol of Saitama City
Saitama City City Hall
Mayor	Sōichi Aikawa
Address	〒330-9588 Saitama-shi,Urawa-ku Tokiwa,6-4-4
Phone number	048-829-1111
Official website: Saitama City

Coordinates: 35°51′42″N, 139°38′43″E

Saitama (さいたま市, -shi^?) is the capital and the most populous city of Saitama Prefecture in Japan. It was created by the merger of the cities of Urawa, Omiya, and Yono in 2001. It merged with the city of Iwatsuki in 2005. It has been a city designated by government ordinance since 2003. Many of its residents commute into Tokyo.

1 Demographics
2 Wards
3 Economy
- 3.1 Transportation
4 Culture
- 4.1 Sports
5 History
- 5.1 Origin of the name "Saitama"
6 Trivia
7 Visitor attractions
8 External links

[edit] Demographics

As of July 1, 2006, the city had an estimated population of 1,182,115. The total area is 217.49 km².

[edit] Wards

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

■Chūō-ku	中央区	(Rose red)
■Iwatsuki-ku	岩槻区	(Ochre)
■Kita-ku	北区	(Dark green)
■Midori-ku	緑区	(Green)
■Minami-ku	南区	(Lemon yellow)
■Minuma-ku	見沼区	(Sky blue)
■Nishi-ku	西区	(Blue)
■Ōmiya-ku	大宮区	(Orange)
■Sakura-ku	桜区	(Cherryblossom pink)
■Urawa-ku	浦和区	(Red)

[edit] Economy

Konuma river.

[edit] Transportation

Saitama has been a regional transportation hub for both passengers and cargo. The radial traffic to and from Tokyo and the arc traffic bypassing Tokyo often merge here. This includes daily commuter traffic, regional and national traffic of agricultural and industrial products as well as seasonal vacations. Rail and road development in the past 25 years at last seems to have caught up with the slowing of traffic demand.

Ōmiya Station, part of the Shinkansen high-speed train network, serves as the biggest railway hub in the city. Musashino and Saitama Railway lines also serve the city but are connecting at other stations. Shuto Expressway and the Tohoku Expressway provide the main expressway connections to the city. National Highway Routes 4, 16, 17, 122, 298 and 463 also serve the city.

The closest major airports are Haneda Airport in Tokyo and Narita International Airport in Chiba, both about two hours away. Honda Airport in Okegawa is for general aviation and offers no scheduled transport services.

[edit] Culture

[edit] Sports

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Saitama is home to two J. League football (soccer) teams: the popular Urawa Red Diamonds, owned by Mitsubishi, and Omiya Ardija, owned by NTT.

The city and Tokorozawa are home to the Japan Professional Basketball League team the Saitama Broncos.

[edit] History

The city was founded on May 1, 2001 and was designated on April 1, 2003 by government ordinance. On April 1, 2005 it merged with the city of Iwatsuki to its east, which became a new ward Iwatsuki-ku.

[edit] Origin of the name "Saitama"

The name "Saitama" originally comes from the Sakitama (埼玉郡) district of what is now the city of Gyoda 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, Omiya, 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 a member of the hiragana cities.

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