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 ...

. It is one of 30 municipalities in the western portion of Tokyo known as the

Tama Area Western Tokyo, also known as the , or , in the Tokyo Metropolis consists of 30 ordinary municipalities (cities (市 shi), towns (町 machi) and one village (村 mura)), unlike the eastern part which consists of 23 special wards. Before it was t ...

. , 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 83,218, 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 13,000 persons per km². Based on the 2015 Kanto Ranking, Musashino was the fifth most desirable place to live in Central Japan. The total area of the city is . It is the smallest administrative city in Tokyo Meotropolis both in area and population, and the second smallest in terms of area in the nation.

Geography

Komae is nestled between 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 ...

to the southwest, and the much smaller

Nogawa River The is a river which flows through the west side of central Tokyo, Japan in an area known as the Musashino Terrace. The source of the river is associated with the Ohike Pond in the gardens of the Hitachi Central Research Laboratory just w ...

to the north and east which flows near its boundaries with

Chōfu is a city in the western side of Tokyo Metropolis, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 238,087, and a population density of 11,000 per km². the total area of the city is . Geography Chōfu is approximately in the south-center of ...

city and

Setagaya Ward is a special ward in Tokyo, Japan. It is also the name of a neighborhood and administrative district within the ward. The ward calls itself Setagaya City in English. Its official bird is the azure-winged magpie, its flower is the fringed orch ...

. It is mostly flat. It is a small municipality; its boundaries fit within a circle of 2 km radius centred on the city hall. It is essentially a

residential suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area, which may include commercial and mixed-use, that is primarily a residential area. A suburb can exist either as part of a larger city/urban area or as a separate ...

of Tokyo which urbanised rapidly in the 1960s and 1970s, with most of the working population commuting to central Tokyo. There are several neighbourhood shopping areas, mainly around the train stations. The City Hall is located near Komae Station.

Surrounding municipalities

Setagaya is a special ward in Tokyo, Japan. It is also the name of a neighborhood and administrative district within the ward. The ward calls itself Setagaya City in English. Its official bird is the azure-winged magpie, its flower is the fringed orch ...

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 ...

* Kawasaki

Climate

Komae 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 Komae is 14.8 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1647 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 26.0 °C, and lowest in January, at around 3.8 °C.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Komae increased rapidly in the 1950s and 1960s, but has remained relatively constant for the past 40 years.

History

The city's name is thought to originate from the word ''koma'', referring to migrants, especially

Goguryeo Goguryeo (37 BC–668 AD) ( ) also called Goryeo (), was a Korean kingdom located in the northern and central parts of the Korean Peninsula and the southern and central parts of Northeast China. At its peak of power, Goguryeo controlled most ...

from the

Korean peninsula Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

who settled here around the 5th century AD. Numerous ''

kofun are megalithic tombs or tumuli in Northeast Asia. ''Kofun'' were mainly constructed in the Japanese archipelago between the middle of the 3rd century to the early 7th century CE.岡田裕之「前方後円墳」『日本古代史大辞典』� ...

'' burial mounds are located within the city borders. The area of present-day Komae 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 ...

. In the post-

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 ...

cadastral reform of July 22, 1878, the area became part of Minamiitama District in

. The town of Komae was created on April 1, 1889 with the establishment of the modern municipalities system. Minamtama District was transferred to the administrative control of Tokyo Metropolis on April 1, 1893. Odakyu Railways's Odawara line was constructed through Komae in 1926, linking it with

Shinjuku is a special ward in Tokyo, Japan. It is a major commercial and administrative centre, housing the northern half of the busiest railway station in the world (Shinjuku Station) and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, the administration ...

in central Tokyo. Expanding population led to Komae being upgraded to the status of a town in 1952, and to a city on October 1, 1970. On September 1, 1974,

's levee failed during a

typhoon A typhoon is a mature tropical cyclone that develops between 180° and 100°E in the Northern Hemisphere. This region is referred to as the Northwestern Pacific Basin, and is the most active tropical cyclone basin on Earth, accounting for a ...

, and 19 houses were destroyed by torrential flooding. The riverbanks have now been strengthened. A small memorial stands at the location of the levee failure.

Government

Komae 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 26 members. The current mayor is Kunihiko Takahashi, an independent heading a coalition of the

Democratic Party of Japan The was a centristThe Democratic Party of Japan was widely described as centrist: * * * * * * * to centre-left liberal or social-liberal political party in Japan from 1998 to 2016. The party's origins lie in the previous Democratic Part ...

with the

Liberal Democratic Party of Japan The , frequently abbreviated to LDP or , is a conservativeThe Liberal Democratic Party is widely described as conservative: * * * * * political party in Japan. The LDP has been in power almost continuously since its foundation in 1955—a per ...

and the

Komeito , formerly New Komeito and abbreviated NKP, is a conservative political party in Japan founded by lay members of the Buddhist Japanese new religious movement Soka Gakkai in 1964. Since 2012, it has served in government as the junior coalitio ...

, which ousted long-term

Japanese Communist Party The is a left-wing to far-left political party in Japan. With approximately 270,000 members belonging to 18,000 branches, it is one of the largest non-governing communist parties in the world. The party advocates the establishment of a democr ...

mayor Yutaka Yano in 2012. Komae, together with the city of Chōfu, contributes three members to the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is part of Tokyo 26th 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 ...

. * 2007 Komae city assembly election

Education

The one public high school,

Komae High School is a public high school located in Komae, Tokyo, Japan. There are over 2000 male and female students at Komae from grades 10 to 12. The school was established on April 1, 1972. Komae High is a sister school of Kirrawee High School, located in ...

, is operated by the

Tokyo Metropolitan Government 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 T ...

. Komae has six public elementary schools and four junior high schools schools operated by the city. Public junior high schools: * Komae No. 1 (狛江第一中学校) * Komae No. 2 ( 狛江第二中学校) * Komae No. 3 (狛江第三中学校) * Komae No. 4 ( 狛江第四中学校) Public elementary schools: * Izumi (和泉小学校) * Komae No. 1 (狛江第一小学校) * Komae No. 3 ( 狛江第三小学校) * Komae No. 5 (狛江第五小学校) * Komae No. 6 ( 狛江第六小学校) * Midorino (緑野小学校)

Transportation

Railway

Odakyu Electric Railway , commonly known as Odakyū, is a major railway company based in Tokyo, Japan, best known for its ''Romancecar'' series of limited express trains from Tokyo to Odawara, Enoshima, Tama New Town, and Hakone. The Odakyu Electric Railway Company fo ...

–

Odakyū Odawara Line The is the main line of Japanese private railway operator Odakyu Electric Railway. It extends 82.5 km from Shinjuku in central Tokyo through the southwest suburbs to the city of Odawara, the gateway to Hakone in Kanagawa Prefecture. It is ...

* - (Some areas in the north of the city have better access to

Keiō Line The is a 37.9-km railway line in western Tokyo, Japan, owned by the private railway operator Keiō Corporation. It connects Shinjuku, Tokyo, with the suburban city of Hachiōji. The Keiō Line is part of a network with interchanges and throug ...

stations in neighbouring

city.)

Highway

*Komae is not served by any national highways or expressways.

Local attractions

Annual events in Komae include a raft-race on Tama River every July, and a city fair in mid-November. The town has a group of festival mascots called Komarangers; their purpose is to cheer up the citizens of the town. They come in five colors: red, blue, green, yellow, and pink.

Notable people from Komae

Sadao Araki Baron was a general in the Imperial Japanese Army before and during World War II. As one of the principal nationalist right-wing political theorists in the Empire of Japan, he was regarded as the leader of the radical faction within the polit ...

. Army general and pre-war rightwing politician * Sumire Haruno. Takarazuka actress

References

External links

*
Komae City Official Website
{{Authority control Cities in Tokyo Western Tokyo