260px, Inokashira Park in Mitaka 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 ...

in the

Western Tokyo Western Tokyo, known as the , or locally, 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 i ...

region of

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 ...

, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 190,403, and a population density of 12,000 persons per km². The total area of the city was .

Geography

Mitaka is located on the

Kantō Plain The , in the Kantō region of central Honshu, is the largest plain in Japan. Its 17,000 km2 covers more than half of the region extending over Tokyo, Saitama Prefecture, Kanagawa Prefecture, Chiba Prefecture, Gunma Prefecture, Tochigi Prefe ...

, just outside the 23

special wards of Tokyo The of Tokyo are a special form of Municipalities of Japan, municipalities in Japan under the 1947 Local Autonomy Act, Local Autonomy Law. They are city-level wards: primary subdivisions of a prefecture with municipal autonomy largely comparabl ...

Metropolis, which are on its eastern borders. The Tamagawa Aqueduct

canal Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface ...

, which runs alongside Mitaka station, has an important place in history, built in 1653 to feed the local

metropolis A metropolis () is a large city or conurbation which is a significant economic, political, and cultural area for a country or region, and an important hub for regional or international connections, commerce, and communications. A big city b ...

. It is also the place where novelist

Osamu Dazai , known by his pen name , was a Japanese novelist and author. A number of his most popular works, such as ''The Setting Sun'' (斜陽, ''Shayō'') and '' No Longer Human'' (人間失格, ''Ningen Shikkaku''), are considered modern classics. Hi ...

died by suicide in 1948. The National Astronomical Observatory of Japan is located in Mitaka.

Surrounding municipalities

* Chōfu * Koganei * Musashino *

Setagaya is a special ward in the Tokyo Metropolis in Japan. It is also the name of a neighborhood and administrative district within the ward. Its official bird is the azure-winged magpie, its flower is the fringed orchid, and its tree is the '' Ze ...

Suginami is a Special wards of Tokyo, special ward in the Tokyo, Tokyo Metropolis in Japan. The ward refers to itself as Suginami City in English. As of June 1, 2022, Suginami has an estimated population of 588,354 and a population density of 17,274 pe ...

Climate

Mitaka 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 Mitaka is 14.5 °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 3.1 °C.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Mitaka increased rapidly in the 1950s and 1960s. In 1994 there were 2,585 foreign residents in Mitaka, including 726 from North and South Korea, 713 from China, 441 from the United States, 114 from the Philippines, and 108 from the United Kingdom. Of all municipalities in Japan, Mitaka had the highest proportion of Chinese returnees.

History

The area of present-day Mitaka was part of ancient

Musashi Province was a Provinces of Japan, province of Japan, which today comprises Tokyo, Tokyo Metropolis, most of Saitama Prefecture and part of Kanagawa Prefecture. It was sometimes called . The province encompassed Kawasaki, Kanagawa, Kawasaki and Yokohama. ...

. 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 Imperial House of Japan, imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Althoug ...

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

Kanagawa Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Kanagawa Prefecture is the List of Japanese prefectures by population, second-most populous prefecture of Japan at 9,221,129 (1 April 2022) and third-dens ...

. The village of Mitaka was created on 1 April 1889 with the establishment of modern municipalities law. Kitatama District was transferred to the administrative control of Tokyo Metropolis on 1 April 1893. Mitaka was raised to town status in 1940. In 1949, the Mitaka incident, one of a series of unexplained fatal train accidents around the same period of time, occurred at Mitaka Station.The Three Big Rail Mysteries that Defined Japan’s Summer of 1949
/ref> Mitaka City was officially founded on 3 November 1950. A motion to merge with neighboring Musashino City failed in 1955 by only a single vote in the Mitaka city assembly.

Government

Mitaka 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 28 members. Mitaka contributes two members to the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is part of Tokyo 22nd 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 ...

Economy

Mitaka 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 ...

for Tokyo. A number of animation studios, including

Pierrot Pierrot ( , ; ), a stock character of pantomime and commedia dell'arte, has his origins in the late 17th-century Italian troupe of players performing in Paris and known as the Comédie-Italienne. The name is a hypocorism, diminutive of ''Pierr ...

, Silver Link. and Telecom Animation Film have their corporate headquarters in Mitaka. A short-lived video game manufacturer TAD Corporation was founded and headquartered in the same location.Latest Status Info
/ref>
/ref> ttps://uspto.report/TM/74117580 74117580 – Trademarks411, Trademark Search Made Simple/ref> Subaru Tecnica International has its headquarters in Mitaka.

Education

Colleges and universities

* Graduate University for Advanced Studies – Department of Astronomical Science, School of Physical Sciences *

International Christian University is a non-denominational private university located in Mitaka, Tokyo. With the efforts of Prince Takamatsu, General Douglas MacArthur, and Bank of Japan, BOJ Governor Hisato Ichimada, ICU was established in 1949 as the first liberal arts coll ...

– Japan's oldest and largest American-style university, founded on 15 June 1949. * Japan Lutheran College *

Kokugakuin Tochigi Junior College is a private junior college in Tochigi, Tochigi, Japan. The school was founded as a junior women's college in 1966 before it became coeducational 2004. The college is affiliated with the Kokugakuin University located in Tokyo Tokyo, off ...

* Kyorin University – School of Medicine, Kyorin University Hospital (at Hospital Campus); Faculty of Health Sciences, Faculty of Social Studies, Faculty of Foreign Studies (at Inokashira Campus) * Tokyo Union Theological Seminary *

University of Tokyo The University of Tokyo (, abbreviated as in Japanese and UTokyo in English) is a public research university in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 1877 as the nation's first modern university by the merger of several pre-westernisation era ins ...

– the Institute of Astronomy, Faculty of Science; Mitaka International Hall of Residence

Primary and secondary schools

*Mikata city operates 15 public elementary schools and seven public middle schools. There is also one private elementary school and three private middle schools. * (東京都立三鷹中等教育学校) is operated by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Board of Education. There are also four private high schools, including part of the campus of the International Christian University High School. Private primary and secondary schools: *Taisei High School *Kokugakuin Kugayama Junior High/High School *Hosei University Junior and Senior High School ( 法政大学中学高等学校) * Musashi International School, formerly Little Angels International School
" Formerly Little Angels International School. Retrieved on 28 June 2022. "Musashi International School (Mitaka Campus) ..9-7-14,Shimorenjaku, Mitaka-shi, Tokyo 181-0013, Japan." �
Japanese address
（三鷹校） ..〒181-0013 東京三鷹市下連雀9-7-14" Public junior high schools: * No. 1 Junior High School ( 第一中学校) * No. 2 Junior High School ( 第二中学校) * No. 3 Junior High School (第三中学校) * No. 4 Junior High School (第四中学校) * No. 5 Junior High School (第五中学校) * No. 6 Junior High School ( 第六中学校) * No. 7 Junior High School (第七中学校) Public elementary schools: * No. 1 ( 第一小学校) * No. 2 (第二小学校) * No. 3 (第三小学校) * No. 4 ( 第四小学校) * No. 5 (第五小学校) * No. 6 (第六小学校) * No. 7 (第七小学校) * Hanesawa (羽沢小学校) * Higashidai (東台小学校) * Iguchi (井口小学校) * Kitano ( 北野小学校) * Minamiura (南浦小学校) * Nakahara ( 中原小学校) * Osawadai (大沢台小学校) * Takayama ( 高山小学校)

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 ...

– Chuo Main Line *

40px 4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is a square number, the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. Evolution of the H ...

Keio Corporation is a private railway operator in Tokyo, Japan and the central firm of the that is involved in transport, retailer, retail, real estate and other industries. The Keio railway network connects western suburbs of Tokyo (Chōfu, Tokyo, Chōfu, Fuc ...

Keio Inokashira Line The is a railway line operated by the Japanese private railway operator Keio Corporation in the western suburbs of Edo, connecting in Tokyo with in Musashino, Tokyo, Musashino City. It is not physically connected to the Keiō Line, Keio Main ...

* –

Highway

* Chūō Expressway *

Local attractions

* Ghibli Museum * Inokashira Park * Nogawa Park *Yuzo Yamamoto Memorial Museum

Notable people from Mitaka

Hiroki Azuma (born May 9, 1971) is a Japanese cultural critic, novelist, and philosopher. He is the co-founder and former director of Genron, an independent institute in Tokyo, Japan. Biography Azuma was born in Mitaka, Tokyo. Azuma received his PhD in ...

cultural critic A cultural critic is a critic of a given culture, usually as a whole. Cultural criticism has significant overlap with social and cultural theory. While such criticism is simply part of the self-consciousness of the culture, the social positions o ...

, novelist, and philosopher *

Masahiro Chono is an American-born Japanese retired Professional wrestling in Japan, professional wrestler and actor best known for his 26-year stint with New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). As the leader of New World Order (professional wrestling), nWo Japan, Tea ...

professional wrestler Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to real-life wrest ...

(originally from

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

, Washington) *

Akira Fuse is a Japanese singer and actor. He debuted in 1965 with the single . Career His greatest hits are and . He currently makes consistent appearances on television, performs occasional seasonal tours, hosts a late night talk show, and is involved ...

, singer *

Tsubasa Honda is a Japanese actress and model. Career In mid-2006, Honda entered the entertainment industry after being scouted by seven different people on the same day. She then debuted as an exclusive model for the magazine '' Seventeen'' in the same year. ...

, actress, model * Ryo Kimura, actor *

Satoshi Ohno is a Japanese idol, singer, actor, radio host, artist, dancer, and choreographer. He is the lead vocalist and leader of the boy band Arashi, hence his nickname . Ohno began his career in the entertainment industry when he joined the Japanese ta ...

, singer, actor, and member of

Arashi is a Japanese boy band consisting of five members formed under the Johnny & Associates talent agency. The members are Satoshi Ohno, Sho Sakurai, Masaki Aiba, Kazunari Ninomiya, and Jun Matsumoto. Arashi officially formed on September 15, 199 ...

* Yoshikazu Tanaka, businessman, founder of GREE, Inc. * Yūko Tsushima, author, fiction writer, essayist and critic *

Eiji Wentz is a Japanese singer, entertainer, actor, and a member of the singer-songwriter duo WaT. Early career Born in Mitaka, Tokyo to a Japanese mother and a German Americans, German American father, Wentz became involved in the entertainment indust ...

, singer, actor, entertainer, and member of the singer-songwriter duo

WaT A wat (, ; , ; , ; ; , ) is a type of Buddhist and Hindu temple in Cambodia, Laos, East Shan State (Myanmar), Yunnan (China), the Southern Province of Sri Lanka, and Thailand. Etymology The word ''wat'' is borrowed from the Sanskrit ''v ...

References

External links

Mitaka City Official Website
{{Authority control Cities in Tokyo Western Tokyo Populated places established in 1950