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 the western portion of

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, ...

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 148,285 in 73,167 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 . 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, which spans Tokyo and

Kanagawa Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Kanagawa Prefecture is the second-most populous prefecture of Japan at 9,221,129 (1 April 2022) and third-densest at . Its geographic area of makes it fifth-smallest. Kana ...

. 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, Kanagawa and Tokyo Prefectures on Honshū, Japan. It is officially classified as a Class 1 river by the Japanese government. Its total length is , and the total of the river's basin area spans . The river ...

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, lo ...

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

Surrounding municipalities

Inagi file:Inagi City Hall.jpg, 270px, Inagi City Hall is a Cities of Japan, city located in the western portion of Tokyo Metropolis, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 92,585 in 41,592 households, and a population density of 5200 persons ...

* Fuchū *

Hachiōji is a Cities of Japan, city located in the Western Tokyo, western portion of Tokyo Metropolis, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 561,344, and a population density of 3000 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Geography ...

* Machida * Hino

* Kawasaki

Climate

Tama 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 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 1970s and 1980s.

History

* The area of present-day Tama was part of ancient

Musashi Province was a province of Japan, which today comprises Tokyo Metropolis, most of Saitama Prefecture and part of Kanagawa Prefecture. It was sometimes called . The province encompassed Kawasaki and Yokohama. Musashi bordered on Kai, Kōzuke, Sagami, S ...

. 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 practical imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Although there were ...

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 is 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 colonization ...

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, 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. 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 is an electoral district in the House of Representatives (Japan), Japanese House of Representatives. The district was established in 1994 at the introduction of the single member constituency system, and is currently represented by the Liberal D ...

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 ...

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 intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines, as opposed to intelligence displayed by animals and humans. Example tasks in which this is done include speech re ...

program. While election posters and campaign material used the term ''robot'', and displayed

stock images Stock photography is the supply of photographs which are often licensed for specific uses. The stock photo industry, which began to gain hold in the 1920s, has established models including traditional macrostock photography, midstock photography, ...

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 conglomerate holding company headquartered in Minato, Tokyo which focuses on investment management. The Group primarily invests in companies operating in technology, energy, and financial sectors. It also runs the ...

and Norio Murakami of

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

. 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, rural 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 usa ...

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, retail, real estate and other industries. The name is derived from taking one character each from the places through which the railw ...

Mitsumi Electric was a Japanese manufacturer of consumer electronic components, founded in 1954. The company was listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, was constituent of the Nikkei 225 stock index and provided its products through its subsidiaries in Asia, Euro ...

JUKI is a Japanese manufacturer of industrial sewing machines and domestic sewing machines, as well as high-technology SMT ( surface mount technology) assembly equipment and is headquartered in Tama-shi, Tokyo. It is one of the leading industrial m ...

Education

Universities and colleges

Keisen University is a 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 Michi Kawai, the National Secretary of the Young Women's Christian Associations of Japan. ...

Tama Campus *

Kokushikan University is a private university in Setagaya, Tokyo, Japan. Combined teams of the Graduate School of Engineering and the Department of Science and Engineering competed against 130 team and came in 11th place in the 27th Formula SAE in 2007. This is the ...

Tama Campus * Otsuma Women's University Tama Campus *

Tama University is a private university in Tama, Tokyo, 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, ...

Tama Campus *

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

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

Elementary and secondary schools

The

Tokyo Metropolitan Government Board of Education The Tokyo Metropolitan Government Board of Education (東京都教育委員会 ''Tōkyō-to Kyōiku Iinkai'') is the board of education in Tokyo, Japan. The board directly manages all of the public high schools in all 23 special wards, the Western T ...

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

Keiō Line The is a 37.9-km railway line in western Tokyo, Japan, owned by the private railway operator Keiō Corporation. It connects Shinjuku, Tokyo, with the suburban city of Hachiōji. The Keiō Line is part of a network with interchanges and throug ...

* 40px

Keiō Sagamihara Line The is a Japanese railway line operated by the private railway operator Keio Corporation, connecting Hashimoto Station (Kanagawa), Hashimoto Station in Sagamihara, Kanagawa, Sagamihara, Kanagawa Prefecture and Chōfu Station (Tokyo), Chōfu Sta ...

* - 40px

Odakyu Electric Railway , commonly known as Odakyū, is a major railway company based in Tokyo, Japan, best known for its ''Romancecar'' series of limited express trains from Tokyo to Odawara, Enoshima, Tama New Town, and Hakone. The Odakyu Electric Railway Company fo ...

- Odakyū Tama Line * - - Tama Toshi Monorail Logo

Tama Monorail *

Highway

Tama is not served by any national expressways or national highways

Military facilities

* Tama Hills, a recreational facility of the

U.S. Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Sign ...

, intended for use by United States service members and their families, as well as

Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force , 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 (IJN) ...

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 Sanrio characters such as Hello K ...

Amusement Park * Thirteen Buddhas of Tama

Sister cities

* -

Fujimi, Nagano is a town located in Nagano Prefecture, Japan. , the town had an estimated population of 14,485 in 5958 households, and a population density of 102 persons per km². The total area of the town is . Geography Fujimi is located in a very mountain ...

in Japan.

References

External links

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