Tama New Town
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Tama New Town is a massive residential development straddling the municipalities of Hachioji, Tama, Inagi and Machida cities on the western flank of Tokyo, Japan. It was designed as a New Town in 1965. It is approximately 14km long stretching east-west, and between 1 and 3km wide, located in an expanse of hills known as Tama Hills about 20km west of central Tokyo.
It currently has a population of about 200,000, making it the largest housing development in Japan.
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[edit] History
During the Japanese post-war economic miracle, a rapid influx of population into Tokyo led land prices to skyrocket, causing many to settle on the cheaper outskirts of the city, leading to an unplanned, rapid urban sprawl. It was feared that, left to its own devices, the uncontrolled expansion of built-up areas would lead to poorly planned communities with insufficient infrastructure to support the population and with poor access to amenities and transport. Tama New Town was planned in 1965 to attempt to ease this pressure by providing hundreds of thousands of housing in a planned, pleasant urban environment. The original planned population was 342,200. Construction began the following year and the first phase opened in 1971. Construction continued in phases for the next few decades.
[edit] Urban design & facilities
It is divided into 21 neighbourhoods of about 3000 to 5000 houses and flats, each with two elementary schools and one junior high school as well as a neighbourhood centre with shops, koban, post office, clinics and the like. Several neighbourhoods form one district, each with its own district centre next to a train station.
The area around Tama Center Station is the designated hub of Tama New Town. The area is separated into business, commercial and leisure zones.
- The facilities are centred around Parthenon Avenue, famous for its winter illuminations, which stretch southwards from the station.
- Parthenon Tama, a huge culture centre, is located at the end of Parthenon Avenue. The building, nicknamed so after Parthenon in Greece because of its hilltop location, houses a free museum about the history of Tama New Town.
- Sanrio Puroland, or "Hello-kitty land", is located 5 minutes walk from Tama Center Station.
Tama New Town is served by more than ten railway stations, most of them on the Keio Sagamihara Line and Odakyu Tama Line, both of which provide a direct service to Shinjuku in central Tokyo. JR Nambu Line and Tama Toshi Monorail Line also serve the area.
Tama New Town is home to 14 university and college campuses.
[edit] Media
Tama Television (TTV) is a cable TV and internet provider, servicing the Tama New Town area as well as other parts of Tama and Inagi municipalities, and has its own channel providing community news and the like.
FM Tama G-Wind (77.6MHz/10W) is the radio station dedicated to the local area.
[edit] Tama New Town in fiction
- The Studio Ghibli film Whisper of the Heart is based in Tama New Town. Many places near Seiseki-Sakuragaoka Station appear in the film, although the area is more developed than it was then.
- Pom Poko, another Ghibli film, depicts the expansion of the New Town from the eyes of tanuki (raccoon dogs).
- It has been speculated that The Cat Returns is also set in Tama New Town.
