is a

city A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

located in

Saitama Prefecture is a Landlocked country, landlocked Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Saitama Prefecture has a population of 7,338,536 (January 1, 2020) and has a geographic area of 3,797 Square kilometre, km2 ( ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. , the city had an estimated

population Population is a set of humans or other organisms in a given region or area. Governments conduct a census to quantify the resident population size within a given jurisdiction. The term is also applied to non-human animals, microorganisms, and pl ...

of 52,431 in 21,997 households and a

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), 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 geog ...

of 2100 persons per km². The total area of the city is .

Geography

Shiraoka is located slightly south of the center of the

Kanto Plain Japanese Kanto is a simplified spelling of , a Japanese word, only omitting the diacritics. In Japan Kantō may refer to: *Kantō Plain *Kantō region *Kantō-kai, organized crime group *Kanto (Pokémon), a geographical region in the ''Pokémon ...

in the flatlands eastern Saitama Prefecture and has an almost flat terrain. The highest point in the city is 16 meters above sea level. The Motoara River runs along the city border with Hasuda. Shiraoka is approximately 40 kilometers from downtown Tokyo.,

Surrounding municipalities

** Hasuda ** Kasukabe ** Kuki ** Miyashiro ** Saitama

Climate

Shiraoka has a

humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a subtropical -temperate climate type, characterized by long and hot summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between ...

(Köppen ''Cfa'') characterized by warm summers and cool winters with light to no snowfall. The average annual temperature in Shiraoka is 14.7 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1352 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 26.7 °C, and lowest in January, at around 3.77 °C.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Shiraoka has increased from the 1980s.

History

The villages of Shinozu and Oyama were created within Minamisaitama District, Saitama with the establishment of the modern municipalities system on April 1, 1889. On September 1, 1965, Shinozu and the neighboring village of Hikachi, together with a part of Oyama merged to form the town of Shiraoka. Shiraoka was elevated to city status on October 1, 2012.白岡町：来年10月1日、白岡市発足へ町議会が可決
by Mainichi Shimbun, December 9, 2011

Government

Shiraoka 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 consisting of one house or assembly that legislates and votes as one. Unicameralism has become an increasingly common type of legislature, making up nearly ...

city council of 18 members. Shiraoka, together with the town of Miyashiro, contributes one member to the Saitama Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is part of Saitama 13th district of the

lower house A lower house is the lower chamber of a bicameral legislature, where the other chamber is the upper house. Although styled as "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide, the lower house has come to wield more power or otherwise e ...

of the

Diet of Japan , transcription_name = ''Kokkai'' , legislature = 215th Session of the National Diet , coa_pic = Flag of Japan.svg , house_type = Bicameral , houses = , foundation=29 November 1890(), leader1_type ...

Mayors

* Suguru Kojima (2012-2020) * Eiichiro Fujii (from 2020)

Economy

Shiraoka remains primarily an agricultural community; however due to its location, it is increasingly becoming 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 neighboring Saitama City and the Tokyo metropolis.

Education

Shiraoka has five public elementary schools and four public middle schools operated by the city government, and one public high school operated by the Saitama Prefectural Board of Education.

Transportation

Railway

JR East The is a major passenger railway company in Japan and 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 in ...

–

Utsunomiya Line The Utsunomiya Line () is the name given to a section of the Tōhoku Main Line between Tokyo Station in Tokyo and Kuroiso Station in Nasushiobara, Tochigi, Japan. It is part of the East Japan Railway Company (JR East) network. Services Serv ...

* -

Highway

* * *

Local attractions

*Shiraoka Hachiman-gu

Noted people from Shiraoka

Hiroshi Narahara is a former Japanese professional baseball player and currently first squad head coach for the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks of the Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). He previously played for the Seibu Lions, Nippon-Ham Fighters/Hokkaido Nippon-Ham F ...

, professional baseball player

References

External links

Official Website
{{Authority control Cities in Saitama Prefecture Shiraoka, Saitama