Saitama Prefecture

is located on Honshu 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.

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

Map of Saitama Prefecture.

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

Cities

{|valign="top"|
*Ageo
*Asaka
*Chichibu
*Fujimi
*Fujimino
*Fukaya
*Gyoda
*Hanno
*Hanyu
*Hasuda
*Hatogaya
*Hidaka
*Higashimatsuyama
*Honjo