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 75,697 in 39,563 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 15,000 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Warabi has the smallest area of any municipality in Japan, and highest population density outside of the special wards of Tokyo.

Geography

Warabi is located southeastern part of Saitama Prefecture, bordering Saitama City in the north, Toda in the west, and Kawaguchi in the east. The city area is in the Arakawa lowland and averages 4.8 meters above sea level. Land use mainly consists of residential areas.

Surrounding municipalities

** Kawaguchi ** Toda ** Saitama

Climate

Warabi 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 Warabi 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, the population of Warabi has remained relatively constant over the past 50 years.

History

Warabi developed from the

Muromachi period The is a division of Japanese history running from approximately 1336 to 1573. The period marks the governance of the Muromachi or Ashikaga shogunate (''Muromachi bakufu'' or ''Ashikaga bakufu''), which was officially established in 1338 by t ...

as Warabi-shuku, a

post town A post town is a required part of all postal addresses in the United Kingdom and Ireland, and a basic unit of the postal delivery system.Royal Mail, ''Address Management Guide'', (2004) Including the correct post town in the address increases ...

on the

Nakasendō The , also called the ,Richard Lane, ''Images from the Floating World'' (1978) Chartwell, Secaucus ; pg. 285 was one of the five routes of the Edo period, and one of the two that connected Edo (modern-day Tokyo) to Kyoto in Japan. There were 6 ...

highway. It was created as a town with the establishment of the modern municipalities system on 1 April 1889 and was elevated to city status on 1 April 1959.

Government

Warabi 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 18 members. Warabi contributes one member 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 ...

. The directly-elected executive mayor is Hideo Yoritaka, a member of the

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 ...

Elections

* 2007 Warabi mayoral election * 2007 Warabi city assembly election

Economy

Warabi has many small and medium-sized factories, which have employed many foreign workers. In particular, many Iranians and

Kurds ug:كۇردلار Kurds ( ku, کورد ,Kurd, italic=yes, rtl=yes) or Kurdish people are an Iranian ethnic group native to the mountainous region of Kurdistan in Western Asia, which spans southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran, northern Ir ...

fled the ethnic problems and wars in the Middle East, and have settled in Warabi. Recently, the ratio of Chinese residents is the highest in Saitama Prefecture. The bulk of the working population commutes to Saitama City or

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, ...

, making Warabi largely a

commuter town 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 ...

Education

Warabi has seven public elementary schools and three public middle schools operated by the city government, and one public high school operated by the Saitama Prefectural Board of Education. There is also one combined private middle/high school.

High schools

* Saitama Prefectural Warabi High School * Bunan High School

Middle schools

* Warabi Municipal No. 1 Junior High School * Warabi Municipal No. 2 Junior High School * Warabi Municipal Higashi Junior High School

Elementary schools

* Warabi Municipal Chūō Elementary School * Warabi Municipal Chūō-Higashi Elementary School * Warabi Municipal Nishi Elementary School * Warabi Municipal Higashi Elementary School * Warabi Municipal Tsukagoshi Elementary School * Warabi Municipal Kita Elementary School * Warabi Municipal Minami Elementary School

Transportation

Railway

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 ...

– Keihin-Tohoku line *

Highway

Sister city relations

El Dorado County El Dorado County (), officially the County of El Dorado, is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 191,185. The county seat is Placerville. The County is part of the Sacramento- Roseville-A ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, USA is a sister municipality to Warabi city in 26 March 1975.

Noted people from Warabi

Hidetaka Yoshioka is a Japanese actor known for his performance in several movies as a child and lately the award-winning TV drama Dr. Coto's Clinic. He notably played the part of Tora-san's little nephew in the "Otoko wa Tsurai yo" film series, and he appeared ...

, actor *

Yasuhiro Suzuki is a Japanese boxer who competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics in the welterweight division (– 69 kg). He is an alumnus of the Takushoku University, and is Second lieutenant in the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force. Suzuki won the silv ...

, professional wrestler *

Yana Toboso is a Japanese manga artist. She was born in Warabi, Saitama Prefecture, Japan and currently resides in Yokohama. Selected works '' Rust Blaster'' is a 2006 six-chapter manga published by Square Enix in one volume. It tells the story of a hu ...

, manga artist *

Haruna Kojima is a Japanese actress, model, and former singer. From 2005 to 2017, she was a member of idol group AKB48 under Team A. Career Kojima was born in Urawa-ku, Saitama, Saitama Prefecture, and started her career as a member of Angel Eyes, an idol ...

, actress and model, former member of

AKB48 AKB48 (pronounced ''A.K.B. Forty-Eight'') is a Japanese idol girl group named after the Akihabara (''Akiba'' for short) area in Tokyo, where the group's theater is located. AKB48's producer, Yasushi Akimoto, wanted to form a girl group with it ...

Gen Hoshino is a Japanese singer-songwriter, musician, actor, and writer. Career Music Since 2000, Hoshino has led the instrumental band Sakerock, where he plays marimba and guitar. They released over ten albums before disbanding in 2015. As a solo artist, ...

, singer-songwriter

References

External links

Official Website
{{Authority control Cities in Saitama Prefecture