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 ...

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 66,022 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 3300 persons per km². The total area of the city is .

Geography

In east-central Saitama Prefecture, Kitamoto is on the central reaches of the Arakawa River, and is within commuting distance of downtown Tokyo.

Surrounding municipalities

* Kawajima *

Kōnosu is a city located in Saitama Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 117,995 in 50,801 households and a population density of 1700 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Geography Located in east-central Saitama P ...

* Okegawa *

Yoshimi Yoshimi is a unisex Japanese given name and can also be used as a surname. Written forms Forms in kanji can include: *佳美, meaning "excellent, beautiful" *良美, meaning "good, beautiful" *好美, meaning "like, beautiful" *芳美, meanin ...

Climate

Kitamoto 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 Kitamoto is 14.6 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1353 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 3.6 °C.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data,Kitamoto population statistics
/ref> the population of Kitamoto has recently plateaued after a long period of growth.

History

Kōnosu-shuku was the seventh of the 69 Stations of the Nakasendō, sixty-nine stations of the Nakasendō highway connecting Edo with Kyoto during the Edo period. It was located in the present-day city of Kōnosu, Saitama, Kōnosu, Saitama Prefecture, Japan. H ...

was one of the

post stations Graham Media Group (formerly Post-Newsweek Stations) is the television broadcasting subsidiary of Graham Holdings Company. It is now headquartered in Detroit, co-locating with its local NBC affiliate WDIV-TV, after spending 10 years in Chicago. ...

on the

Nakasendō The , also called the ,Richard Lane, ''Images from the Floating World'' (1978) Chartwell, Secaucus ; pg. 285 was one of the centrally administered Edo Five Routes, five routes of the Edo period, and one of the two that connected the ''de facto'' ...

highway until 1602, when it was relocated north; the original location was renamed Motojuku, and later, Kitamotojuku, which is the origin of the name of the modern city. With the establishment of the modern municipalities system on April 1, 1889, Kitamotojuku was merged with several neighboring hamlets to form the village of Ishito within Kitaadachi District, Saitama. On February 11, 1943, Ishito was merged with neighboring Nakamaru to form Kitamotojuku Village. On November 3, 1959, the village was elevated to town status, becoming Kitamoto Town. Kitamoto attained city status on November 3, 1971.

Government

Kitamoto 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 20 members. Kitamoto contributes one member to the Saitama Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is part of

Saitama 6th district Saitama 6th district (埼玉県第6区, ''Saitama-ken dai-rokku '' or simply 埼玉6区, ''Saitama-ken rokku '') is a single-member constituency of the House of Representatives (Japan), House of Representatives in the national National Diet, Diet ...

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 ...

Economy

Due to this location, Kitamoto is primarily 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 ...

with a high percentage of its population commuting to either Saitama City or the

Tokyo metropolis Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

for work.

Education

Kitamoto has eight 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 ...

–

Takasaki Line The Takasaki Line () is a Japanese railway line which connects Ōmiya Station in Saitama, Saitama Prefecture and Takasaki Station in Takasaki, Gunma Prefecture. It is owned and operated by the East Japan Railway Company (JR East). All service ...

Highway

Noted people from Kitamoto

Atsushi Oshima is a Japanese politician of the Democratic Party for the People, a member of the House of Representatives in the Diet (national legislature). A native of Kitamoto, Saitama and graduate of Waseda University Waseda University (Japanese: ), ab ...

, politician

References

External links

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