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 the western portion of 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 ...

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 148,285 in 73,167 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 . The total area of the city was .

Geography

Tama is located in the foothills of the Okutama Mountains of southwestern Tokyo, known as

Tama Hills is an area of hills stretching across southwest Tokyo and northeast Kanagawa Prefecture in the Kantō Plain on Honshū, Japan. Its total area is approximately 300 km2. The Tama River marks its northeastern boundary. The Tama Hills border th ...

, which spans Tokyo and

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 entire region is historically referred to as Tama; therefore there are many place names scattered throughout the area with references to the name "Tama" which are not within the city limits. The

Tama River The is a major river in Yamanashi Prefecture, Yamanashi, Kanagawa Prefecture, Kanagawa and Tokyo Prefectures on Honshū, Japan. It is officially classified as a Class 1 river by the Government of Japan, Japanese government. It is long, an ...

marks the city's northern boundary, and Kanagawa Prefecture is to the south. Its southern half forms part of the

Tama New Town is a large residential development, straddling the municipalities of Hachiōji, Tama, Inagi and Machida cities, in Tokyo, Japan. It was designed as a new town in 1965. It is approximately long stretching east-west, and between and wide, loc ...

project, Japan's largest residential development, constructed in the 1970s.

Surrounding municipalities

* Kawasaki

* Fuchū *

Hachiōji is a Cities of Japan, city located in the Western Tokyo, western portion of the Tokyo Metropolis, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 561,344, and a population density of 3,000 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . It is ...

* Hino * Inagi * Machida

Climate

Tama 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 Tama is 14.0 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1647 mm with September as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 25.3 °C, and lowest in January, at around 2.8 °C.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Tama increased very rapidly in the late 20th century but has plateaued in the early 21st.

History

* The area of present-day Tama 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 July 22, 1878, the area became part of Minamitama District in

. * Tama Village was founded on April 1, 1889 from the merger of 11 pre-

Meiji period The was an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868, to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonizatio ...

hamlets with the establishment of the modern municipalities system. * Minamitama District was transferred to the administrative control of Tokyo Metropolis on April 1, 1893. * Tama was elevated to town status on April 1, 1964. Construction of

began in 1966, and the first occupants started moving in 1971. * On November 1, 1971, Tama Town was reclassified as Tama City, dissolving Minamitama District. Tama was the last town in the former Minamitama District.

Government

Tama 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 26 members. Tama, together with the city of Inagi, contributes two members to the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is divided between Tokyo 21st district and Tokyo 23rd 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 ...

Election

In 2018, an activist named Michihito Matsuda ran for mayor in the Tama city area of Tokyo as a human proxy for an

artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is the capability of computer, computational systems to perform tasks typically associated with human intelligence, such as learning, reasoning, problem-solving, perception, and decision-making. It is a field of re ...

program. While election posters and campaign material used the term ''robot'', and displayed stock images of a feminine android, the "AI mayor" was in fact a machine learning algorithm trained using Tama city datasets. The project was backed by high-profile executives Tetsuzo Matsumoto of

Softbank is a Japanese multinational Investment company, investment holding company headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, that focuses on investment management. The group primarily invests in companies operating in technology that offer goods and services ...

and Norio Murakami of

Google Google LLC (, ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company focusing on online advertising, search engine technology, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, consumer electronics, and artificial ...

. Michihito Matsuda came third in the election, being defeated by Hiroyuki Abe. Organisers claimed that the 'AI mayor' was programmed to analyze citizen petitions put forward to the

city council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough counc ...

in a more 'fair and balanced' way than human politicians. In 2022, Michihito Matsuda made the campaign pledge to install THXU token into Tama city's further development as one of

Government by algorithm Government by algorithm (also known as algorithmic regulation, regulation by algorithms, algorithmic governance, algocratic governance, algorithmic legal order or algocracy) is an alternative form of government or social ordering where the usag ...

Economy

Several companies have their headquarters in the city: *

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 ...

Mitsumi Electric is a Japanese Manufacturing, manufacturer of Consumer electronics, consumer electronic components, founded in 1954. Mitsumi has been a subsidiary of MinebeaMitsumi since 27 January 2017, when it merged with Minebea to form the parent company. ...

* JUKI

Education

Universities and colleges

Keisen University is a private university, private women's college in Tama, Tokyo, Japan, established in 1988. The university is linked to the Keisen School for Young Women, founded in 1929 by Kawai Michi, Michi Kawai, the National Secretary of the World YWCA, You ...

Tama Campus * Kokushikan University Tama Campus *

Otsuma Women's University is a private university in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan Founded in 1949, it is located in Sanbanchō,_Chiyoda,_Tokyo, Sanbanchō, near the Imperial Palace, Tokyo, Imperial Palace in the Chiyoda City. It began as a sewing school opened ...

Tama Campus * Tama University Tama Campus *

Teikyo University is a private university headquartered in the Itabashi, Tokyo, Itabashi ward of Tokyo, Japan. It was established in 1931 as Teikyo shogyo, Commercial High School (帝京商業高等学校). It became Teikyo University in 1966. It is part of Teik ...

Hachioji Campus *University of Tokyo Health Sciences *National Farmer's Academy

Elementary and secondary schools

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government Board of Education operates , the one public high school. The Tama city government operates 17 public elementary and nine public junior high schools. Municipal junior high schools: * Higashi Atago (東愛宕中学校) * Hijirigaoka (聖ヶ丘中学校) * Ochiai (落合中学校) * Seiryo (青陵中学校) * Suwa (諏訪中学校) * Tama (多摩中学校) * Tama Nagayama ( 多摩永山中学校) * Tsurumaki (鶴牧中学校) * Wada ( 和田中学校) Municipal elementary schools: * Aiwa (愛和小学校) * Higashi Ochiai (東落合小学校) * Higashiteragata (東寺方小学校) * Hijirigaoka (聖ヶ丘小学校) * Kaidori (貝取小学校) * Kitasuwa (北諏訪小学校) * Minami Tsurumaki (南鶴牧小学校) * Nagayama (永山小学校) * Nishiochiai ( 西落合小学校) * Omatsudai (大松台小学校) * Renkoji (連光寺小学校) * Suwa (諏訪小学校) * Tama No. 1 (多摩第一小学校) * Tama No. 2 ( 多摩第二小学校) * Tama No. 3 (多摩第三小学校) * Toyogaoka (豊ヶ丘小学校) * Uryu (瓜生小学校) There is also one private elementary school and one private junior high school, and two private combined junior/senior high schools. * - Girls' school *

Transportation

Railway

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 ...

- Keiō Line *

- Keiō Sagamihara Line * -

Odakyu Electric Railway - Odakyū Tama Line * - - Tama Toshi Monorail Logo

Tama Monorail *

Highway

Tama is not served by any national expressways or national highways

Military facilities

, a recreational facility of the U.S. Air Force, intended for use by United States service members and their families, as well as

Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force The , abbreviated , also simply known as the Japanese Navy, is the maritime warfare branch of the Japan Self-Defense Forces, tasked with the naval defense of Japan. The JMSDF was formed following the dissolution of the Imperial Japanese Navy ( ...

service members and their families.

Local attractions

Sanrio Puroland , also known as ''Hello Kitty Land'', is an indoor theme park located in Tama New Town, Tokyo, Japan. Opened on December 7, 1990, it hosts attractions, live shows, shopping outlets, and restaurants dedicated to List of Sanrio characters, Sanrio ...

Amusement Park * Thirteen Buddhas of Tama

Sister cities

* Fujimi, Nagano, Japan

References

External links

Tama City Official Website
{{Authority control Cities in Tokyo Western Tokyo