is a

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

located in the western portion of

Tokyo Metropolis Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. , the city had an estimated

population Population typically refers to the number of people in a single area, whether it be a city or town, region, country, continent, or the world. Governments typically quantify the size of the resident population within their jurisdiction using a ...

of 56,786, and a

population density Population density (in agriculture: standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical term.Matt RosenberPopul ...

of 5600 persons per km². The total area of the city is . About one third of the city area is occupied by the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

Yokota Air Base , is a Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF) and United States Air Force (USAF) base in the Tama Area, or Western Tokyo. It occupies portions of Akishima, Fussa, Hamura, Mizuho, Musashimurayama, and Tachikawa. The base houses 14,000 personnel ...

, giving the city an effective population density of 8,782 persons per km².

Geography

Fussa is approximately in the geographic center of Tokyo Metropolis, on the

Musashino Terrace The , also translated as Musashino Platform and also named as Musashino Region, is a large tableland (known as a fluvial terrace) in the Kantō region of Honshu, Japan. The Musashino Plateau is a plateau that extends between the Arakawa and Tama R ...

, bordered by the floodplains of the

Tama River The is a major river in Yamanashi, Kanagawa and Tokyo Prefectures on Honshū, Japan. It is officially classified as a Class 1 river by the Japanese government. Its total length is , and the total of the river's basin area spans . The river ...

. The land slopes gently from north to south, with an elevation of 124 meters above sea level at the location of the city hall, which is almost at the geographic center of the city area. The highest elevation is 143.5 meters in the northeast, and the lowest is 104 meters in the southwest. The area along the river is home to many parks and almost 300

cherry blossom A cherry blossom, also known as Japanese cherry or sakura, is a flower of many trees of genus ''Prunus'' or ''Prunus'' subg. ''Cerasus''. They are common species in East Asia, including China, Korea and especially in Japan. They generally ...

trees, recreational facilities and bicycle paths.

Surrounding municipalities

Tokyo Metropolis *

Hamura is a city located in the western portion of Tokyo Metropolis, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 54,622, and a population density of 5500 persons per km². The total area of the city was . Geography Hamura is approximately in the ...

Akiruno 260px, Akigawa River in the autumn is a city located in the western portion of Tokyo Metropolis, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 80,177, and a population density of 1100 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Geograph ...

Mizuho Mizuho () literally means "abundant rice" in Japanese and "harvest" in the figurative sense. It was also an ancient name of Japan. It might refer to: Places * Mizuho, Gifu, a city in Gifu * Mizuho, Tokyo, a town in Tokyo * Mizuho Plateau in A ...

Tachikawa file:Autumn colors in Showa memorial park.jpg, 250px, Showa Memorial Park is a Cities of Japan, city located in the western portion of Tokyo Metropolis, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 184,383 in 93,428 households, and a populat ...

Akishima is a Cities of Japan, city located in the western portion of Tokyo Metropolis, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 113,542, and a population density of 6500 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Geography Akishima is loc ...

Musashimurayama is a city located in the western side of Tokyo, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 72,021 in 32,234 households, and a population density of 4,700 people per km². The total area of the city is . Geography Musashimurayama is located ...

* Hachioji

Climate

Fussa has a

Humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a zone of climate characterized by hot and humid summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between latitudes 25° and 40° ...

(Köppen ''Cfa'') characterized by warm summers and cool winters with light to no snowfall. The average annual temperature in Fussa is 13.9 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1998 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 25.3 °C, and lowest in January, at around 2.4 °C.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Fussa increased rapidly in the 1950s and 1960s, peaking at around the year 2000 and slightly declining since.

History

The area of present-day Fussa was part of ancient

Musashi Province was a province of Japan, which today comprises Tokyo Metropolis, most of Saitama Prefecture and part of Kanagawa Prefecture. It was sometimes called . The province encompassed Kawasaki and Yokohama. Musashi bordered on Kai, Kōzuke, Sagami, S ...

. During the

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characteriz ...

, it was ''

tenryō The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia ...

'' territory controlled directly by the

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia ...

and administered by various ''

hatamoto A was a high ranking samurai in the direct service of the Tokugawa shogunate of feudal Japan. While all three of the shogunates in Japanese history had official retainers, in the two preceding ones, they were referred to as ''gokenin.'' However ...

''. The area was agricultural and noted for

silkworm The domestic silk moth (''Bombyx mori''), is an insect from the moth family Bombycidae. It is the closest relative of ''Bombyx mandarina'', the wild silk moth. The silkworm is the larva or caterpillar of a silk moth. It is an economically imp ...

s and ''

sake Sake, also spelled saké ( ; also referred to as Japanese rice wine), is an alcoholic beverage of Japanese origin made by fermenting rice that has been polished to remove the bran. Despite the name ''Japanese rice wine'', sake, and indee ...

'' production. After the

Meiji Restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored practical imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Although there were ...

, the 26 hamlets in the area consolidated into the villages of Fussa, Kumagawa and Tama within the short-lived Shinagawa Prefecture, followed by

Kanagawa Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Kanagawa Prefecture is the second-most populous prefecture of Japan at 9,221,129 (1 April 2022) and third-densest at . Its geographic area of makes it fifth-smallest. Kana ...

. Parts of the area were involved in the Chichibu Incident of 1884. The entire district was transferred to the control of Tokyo Metropolis on April 1, 1893, and the Ōme Railway joined Fussa to Tachikawa the following year. Fussa was elevated to town status in 1940, and an airfield for the

Imperial Japanese Army The was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of the Army, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emperor o ...

was built, and became the central aircraft testing facility for the Army in 1942. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the area was only lightly bombed (once in 1945, with four casualties), and the military facilities were seized mostly intact by the

American military The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. The armed forces consists of six service branches: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard. The president of the United States is the ...

after the war. In the post-war era, Fussa expanded rapidly through the construction of

subsidized housing Subsidized housing is government sponsored economic assistance aimed towards alleviating housing costs and expenses for impoverished people with low to moderate incomes. In the United States, subsidized housing is often called "affordable housin ...

districts, and was elevated to city status on April 1, 1970 .

Government

Fussa has a mayor-council form of government with a directly elected mayor and a

unicameral Unicameralism (from ''uni''- "one" + Latin ''camera'' "chamber") is a type of legislature, which consists of one house or assembly, that legislates and votes as one. Unicameral legislatures exist when there is no widely perceived need for multic ...

city council of 19 members. Fussa, collectively with Hamura, Akiruno, Mizuho, Hinode, Hinohara and Okutama contributes two members to the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is part of Tokyo 25th district of the

lower house A lower house is one of two Debate chamber, chambers of a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the upper house. Despite its official position "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide, the lower house has co ...

of the

Diet of Japan The is the national legislature of Japan. It is composed of a lower house, called the House of Representatives (, ''Shūgiin''), and an upper house, the House of Councillors (, '' Sangiin''). Both houses are directly elected under a paralle ...

Economy

Fussa, along with its neighboring cities Iruma and

, contains a strong military presence. A large portion of the city's economy focuses on the bases and servicing those who live there. Of note is eastern Fussa's "Bar Row" district, a historic though seedy collection of karaoke bars, shot bars, and massage parlors. The Bar Row area has been a fixture of Fussa nightlife catering to US military personnel since the 1950s. The city also serves as a

bedroom community A commuter town is a populated area that is primarily residential rather than commercial or industrial. Routine travel from home to work and back is called commuting, which is where the term comes from. A commuter town may be called by many o ...

for central Tokyo and a regional commercial center.

Education

*Fussa has seven public elementary schools and three public middle schools operated by the city government, and three public high schools operated by the

Tokyo Metropolitan Board of Education The Tokyo Metropolitan Government Board of Education (東京都教育委員会 ''Tōkyō-to Kyōiku Iinkai'') is the board of education in Tokyo, Japan. The board directly manages all of the public high schools in all 23 special wards, the Western ...

. Metropolitan high schools: * * Municipal junior high schools: * Fussa No. 1 ( 福生第一中学校) * Fussa No. 2 ( 福生第二中学校) * Fussa No. 3 ( 福生第三中学校) Municipal elementary schools: * Fussa No. 1 ( 福生第一小学校) * Fussa No. 2 ( 福生第二小学校) * Fussa No. 3 ( 福生第三小学校) * Fussa No. 4 ( 福生第四小学校) * Fussa No. 5 ( 福生第五小学校) * Fussa No. 6 ( 福生第六小学校) * Fussa No. 7 ( 福生第七小学校) The United States

Department of Defense Education Activity The Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) is a federal school system headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia, responsible for planning, directing, coordinating, and managing prekindergarten through 12th grade educational programs on behal ...

(DoDEA) operates the following schools on

and in the municipality of Fussa for children of United States military personnel: *

Yokota High School Yokota High School (YHS) is a high school located on Yokota Air Base, Japan. It is part of the Department of Defense Education Activity. It is in the Yokota AFB South area, and in the municipality of Fussa. History Yokota High School started ...

* Yokota Middle School The elementary schools of Yokota AFB are in other municipalities.

Transportation

Railroad

JR East The is a major passenger railway company in Japan and is the largest of the seven Japan Railways Group companies. The company name is officially abbreviated as JR-EAST or JR East in English, and as in Japanese. The company's headquarters are ...

–

Ōme Line The is a railway line operated by East Japan Railway Company (JR East) in western Tokyo, Japan. It links Tachikawa and the Chūō Line with the town of Okutama. Many Chūō Line trains operate via the Ōme Line to Ōme Station, providing non-s ...

* -

–

Hachikō Line The Hachikō Line is a 92.0 km (57.2 mi) regional railway line owned and operated by East Japan Railway Company (JR East). It is located within Tokyo, Saitama, and Gunma Prefectures in Japan. It connects Hachiōji Station in Hachiō ...

–

Itsukaichi Line The is a railway line operated by East Japan Railway Company (JR East) in Tokyo, Japan. It links Musashi-Itsukaichi Station in the city of Akiruno with Haijima Station in the city of Akishima. From there, some trains travel through to Tach ...

Highway

Notable people from Fussa

Mayu Sakai is a female Japanese manga artist who once worked as an assistant to Miho Obana. Her works were initially serialized in ''Ribon'' before being published in ''tankōbon'' volumes by Shueisha. She has also been featured in one of Shueisha's shō ...

, Manga artist *

Susumu Matsushita Susumu Matsushita (松下進 ''Matsushita Susumu''; born February 6, 1950 in Fussa, Tokyo) is a Japanese manga artist known for his unique American comic–influenced design. His most famous works are the designing of the mascots and of the Ori ...

, illustrator *

Emiri Katō is a Japanese voice actress and singer. At the 2nd Seiyu Awards, she won Best New Actress with her roles in ''Powerpuff Girls Z'' as Momoko Akatsutsumi/Hyper Blossom and '' Lucky Star'' as Kagami Hiiragi. She also shared a Best Singing Award wi ...

, voice actress *

Yuta Kanai is a Japanese actor. Filmography Film *''A Class to Remember IV'' (2000), Daisuke Kawashima *'' L: Change the WorLd'' (2008) *'' Confessions'' (2010) *'' From Me to You'' (2010) *'' 64: Part I'' (2016) *'' 64: Part II'' (2016) *''Fragments of th ...

, actor *

Hiroyuki Ebihara was a Japanese former professional boxer who competed from 1959 to 1969. He held the WBA, WBC, and '' The Ring'' flyweight titles from 1963 to 1964 and the WBA flyweight title again in 1969. Yuri Arbachakov used the ring name Yuri Ebihara in h ...

, professional boxer *

Brian Stann Brian Michael Stann (born September 24, 1980) is an American former mixed martial artist and U.S. Marine who competed as a Middleweight in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). He is a former WEC Light Heavyweight Champion. He was also a col ...

, mixed martial artist

References

External links

Fussa City Official Website
{{Authority control Cities in Tokyo Western Tokyo