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

Saitama Prefecture is a landlocked prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Saitama Prefecture has a population of 7,338,536 (1 January 2020) and has a geographic area of 3,797 km2 (1,466 sq mi). Saitama Prefecture borders Tochigi Prefecture ...

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 140,902 in 66,765 households 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 7700 persons per km². The total area of the city is .

Geography

Toda is located in the flat lowlands of far southeastern Saitama Prefecture, separated from Tokyo by the

Arakawa River or Ara River may refer to: * Arakawa River (Kanto) or Ara River may refer to: * Arakawa River (Kanto), which flows from Saitama Prefecture and through Tokyo to Tokyo Bay * Arakawa River (Uetsu), which flows from Yamagata Prefecture and throu ...

. The Sasame River also flows through the city before joining the Arakawa.

Surrounding municipalities

** Saitama ** Asaka ** Kawaguchi ** Wakō ** Warabi *

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, ...

Itabashi is a special ward located in Tokyo Metropolis, Japan. In English, it calls itself Itabashi City. Itabashi has sister-city relations with Burlington, Ontario, in Canada; Shijingshan District of Beijing in the People's Republic of China; and ...

** Kita

Climate

Toda 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 Toda is 14.8 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1482 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 26.6 °C, and lowest in January, at around 3.2 °C.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data,Toda population statistics
/ref> the population of Toda has increased rapidly from the 1960s to the present day.

History

The villages of Niizo, Kamitoda and Shimotoda were created within Kitaadachi District, Saitama with the establishment of the modern municipalities system on April 1, 1889. The villages merged on June 1, 1941 to form the town of Toda. The town annexed the village of Misasa on July 20, 1957. The rowing competition of the

1964 Tokyo Olympics The , officially the and commonly known as Tokyo 1964 ( ja, 東京1964), were an international multi-sport event held from 10 to 24 October 1964 in Tokyo, Japan. Tokyo had been awarded the organization of the 1940 Summer Olympics, but this hon ...

took place in Toda near to where the present day Toda-Koen Station is located. The rowing area which is adjacent to the Arakawa River is still in use today. Toda was elevated to city status on October 1, 1966.

Government

Toda 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. Toda contributes two members to the Saitama Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is part of Saitama 15th 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

Much of the residential and commercial development in Toda is due to its proximity to the city of Tokyo and the efficient commuter rail links available. This has enabled Toda to act 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 ...

of Tokyo and is thus an apt location of residence for those who wish to work in the Tokyo Metropolis. There has been a continuous increase in population since the construction of the three Saikyo Line stations in the 1980s and this has had a positive effect on the economy and development of the city. There are a significant number of transportation/logistics and printing-based enterprises in Toda. Large companies that have their headquarters in Toda-shi include Okazen Transportation (Haulage/Logistics), Khobho (IT services), Chiyoda (Food Manufacturing). Other large companies that have significant operations in Toda are Yamato Transportation, Meiji Dairy, Jomo, Mainichi Newspaper, Chunichi Newspaper, Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma, Sanyo Electric, Japan Restaurant Enterprise, and Hayakawa Publishing.

Education

Toda has 12 public elementary schools and six public middle schools operated by the city government, and two public high schools operated by the Saitama Prefectural Board of Education.

Transportation

Railway

An arrangement of the Toda City song has been used as the

departure melody A train melody is a succession of musically expressive tones played when a train is arriving at or about to depart from a train station. As part of train passenger operations, a train melody includes a parade of single notes organized to follow e ...

for trains departing from the up platform (platform 1) of the three Saikyo Line stations in Toda since 1 August 2007. JR logo (east)

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 ...

–

Saikyo Line Saikyo may refer to: *Saikyō Line, a Japanese railway line in the Tokyo metropolitan area *''Saikyō Maru'', a Japanese ship involved in the Battle of the Yalu River (1894) *Western Capital (disambiguation) Western Capital may refer to: China ...

* - -

Highway

* *

Shuto Expressway is a network of toll expressways in the Greater Tokyo Area of Japan. It is operated and maintained by the . Most routes are grade-separated (elevated roads or tunnels) and central routes have many sharp curves and multi-lane merges that requi ...

Ikebukuro Route The , signed as Route 5, is one of the tolled routes of the Shuto Expressway system serving the Greater Tokyo Area. The route is a long radial highway running north from Chiyoda City to Toda, Saitama. It connects Tokyo's Inner Circular Route in ...

Ōmiya Route * *

Bus services

There are various bus services in the city. Most of the routes are run by Kokusai Kogyo bus company. In addition there is a distinctive low cost mini-bus service known as Toco. This stands for Toda Community bus. The Toco service serves routes within the city limits unlike the regular Kokusai Kogyo bus routes which usually bring commuters to and from train stations on the Saikyo and Keihin-Tohoku train lines.

Sister city relations

Liverpool, New South Wales Liverpool is a suburb of Greater Western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located approximately south-west of the Sydney CBD. Liverpool is the administrative seat of the local government area of the City of Liverp ...

, Australia, since October 1, 1992 *

Kaifeng Kaifeng () is a prefecture-level city in east-central Henan province, China. It is one of the Eight Ancient Capitals of China, having been the capital eight times in history, and is best known for having been the Chinese capital during the Nort ...

Henan Henan (; or ; ; alternatively Honan) is a landlocked province of China, in the central part of the country. Henan is often referred to as Zhongyuan or Zhongzhou (), which literally means "central plain" or "midland", although the name is al ...

, China, friendship city since August 21, 1984

Local attractions

Toda Rowing Course The is a venue that hosted the rowing event at the 1964 Summer Olympics. Originally completed in 1939 for the 1940 Summer Olympics that were cancelled due to World War II. After World War II, the venue was left in disrepair. When Tokyo was awar ...

Noted people from Toda

Tomoya Ugajin is a Japanese footballer who plays for FC Gifu. Club statistics ''Updated to 20 December 2022''. 1Includes Emperor's Cup. 2Includes J. League Cup. 3Includes Japanese Super Cup, J. League Championship and FIFA Club World Cup. National tea ...

, professional association football/soccer player *

Yui Hasegawa is a Japanese professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Women's Super League club Manchester City and the Japan national team. A versatile attacking midfielder, she is also capable of operating as a deep-lying playmaker. Born in Se ...

, professional association football/soccer player *

Natsuna Watanabe , better known as just , is a Japanese actress. She was born in Saitama Prefecture. When she graduated from high-school she decided to focus her career entirely on acting. As of 2009, she shortened her stage name and is now simply going by "Nats ...

, actress *

Kotono Mitsuishi is a Japanese voice actress, actress, singer, and narrator. She was affiliated with Arts Vision and Lasley Arrow, but is now freelance. Mitsuishi lived in Nagareyama, Chiba. She graduated from high school and entered the Katsuta Voice Actor's Ac ...

, Voice Actress

References

External links

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