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 largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

, Japan. It is one of 30 municipalities in the western portion of Tokyo known as the Tama Area. , 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 83,218, and a

population density Population density (in agriculture: 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 geographical ...

of 13,000 persons per km². Based on the 2015 Kanto Ranking, Musashino was the fifth most desirable place to live in Central Japan. The total area of the city is . It is the smallest administrative city in Tokyo Meotropolis both in area and population, and the second smallest in terms of area in the nation.

Geography

Komae is nestled between the Tama River to the southwest, and the much smaller Nogawa River to the north and east which flows near its boundaries with Chōfu city and Setagaya Ward. It is mostly flat. It is a small municipality; its boundaries fit within a circle of 2 km radius centred on the city hall. It is essentially a residential suburb of Tokyo which urbanised rapidly in the 1960s and 1970s, with most of the working population commuting to central Tokyo. There are several neighbourhood shopping areas, mainly around the train stations. The City Hall is located near Komae Station.

Surrounding municipalities

* Setagaya * Chōfu

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. Kanag ...

* Kawasaki

Climate

Komae has a Humid subtropical climate (Köppen ''Cfa'') characterized by warm summers and cool winters with light to no snowfall. The average annual temperature in Komae is 14.8 °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 3.8 °C.

Demographics

Per Japanese census data, the population of Komae increased rapidly in the 1950s and 1960s, but has remained relatively constant for the past 40 years.

History

The city's name is thought to originate from the word ''koma'', referring to migrants, especially

Goguryeo Goguryeo (37 BC–668 AD) ( ) also called Goryeo (), was a Korean kingdom located in the northern and central parts of the Korean Peninsula and the southern and central parts of Northeast China. At its peak of power, Goguryeo controlled mos ...

from the

Korean peninsula Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

who settled here around the 5th century AD. Numerous '' kofun'' burial mounds are located within the city borders. The area of present-day Komae was part of ancient Musashi Province. 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 Minamiitama District in

. The town of Komae was created on April 1, 1889 with the establishment of the modern municipalities system. Minamtama District was transferred to the administrative control of Tokyo Metropolis on April 1, 1893. Odakyu Railways's Odawara line was constructed through Komae in 1926, linking it with Shinjuku in central Tokyo. Expanding population led to Komae being upgraded to the status of a town in 1952, and to a city on October 1, 1970. On September 1, 1974, Tama River's levee failed during a

typhoon A typhoon is a mature tropical cyclone that develops between 180° and 100°E in the Northern Hemisphere. This region is referred to as the Northwestern Pacific Basin, and is the most active tropical cyclone basin on Earth, accounting for a ...

, and 19 houses were destroyed by torrential flooding. The riverbanks have now been strengthened. A small memorial stands at the location of the levee failure.

Government

Komae 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 multi ...

city council of 26 members. The current mayor is Kunihiko Takahashi, an independent heading a coalition of the

Democratic Party of Japan The was a centristThe Democratic Party of Japan was widely described as centrist: * * * * * * * to centre-left liberal or social-liberal political party in Japan from 1998 to 2016. The party's origins lie in the previous Democratic ...

with the

Liberal Democratic Party of Japan The , frequently abbreviated to LDP or , is a conservativeThe Liberal Democratic Party is widely described as conservative: * * * * * political party in Japan. The LDP has been in power almost continuously since its foundation in 1955—a per ...

and the

Komeito , formerly New Komeito and abbreviated NKP, is a conservative political party in Japan founded by lay members of the Buddhist Japanese new religious movement Soka Gakkai in 1964. Since 2012, it has served in government as the junior coalit ...

, which ousted long-term

Japanese Communist Party The is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left List of political parties in Japan, political party in Japan. With approximately 270,000 members belonging to 18,000 branches, it is one of the largest non-governing Communis ...

mayor Yutaka Yano in 2012. Komae, together with the city of Chōfu, contributes three members to the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is part of Tokyo 26th district of the lower house of the Diet of Japan. *

2007 Komae city assembly election Komae, Tokyo held a local election on April 22, 2007. Candidates *Source: Returning incumbents *, a 41-year-old man *, a 55-year-old woman *, a 47-year-old man and later Tokyo Metropolitan Assemblyman *, a 58-year-old man *, a 60-year-old man * ...

Education

The one public high school, Komae High School, is operated by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Board of Education. Komae has six public elementary schools and four junior high schools schools operated by the city. Public junior high schools: * Komae No. 1 (狛江第一中学校) * Komae No. 2 ( 狛江第二中学校) * Komae No. 3 (狛江第三中学校) * Komae No. 4 ( 狛江第四中学校) Public elementary schools: * Izumi (和泉小学校) * Komae No. 1 (狛江第一小学校) * Komae No. 3 ( 狛江第三小学校) * Komae No. 5 (狛江第五小学校) * Komae No. 6 ( 狛江第六小学校) * Midorino (緑野小学校)

Transportation

Railway

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 Compa ...

– Odakyū Odawara Line * - (Some areas in the north of the city have better access to

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 thro ...

stations in neighbouring Chōfu city.)

Highway

*Komae is not served by any national highways or expressways.

Local attractions

Annual events in Komae include a raft-race on Tama River every July, and a city fair in mid-November. The town has a group of festival mascots called Komarangers; their purpose is to cheer up the citizens of the town. They come in five colors: red, blue, green, yellow, and pink.

Notable people from Komae

Sadao Araki Baron was a general in the Imperial Japanese Army before and during World War II. As one of the principal nationalist right-wing political theorists in the Empire of Japan, he was regarded as the leader of the radical faction within the polit ...

. Army general and pre-war rightwing politician * Sumire Haruno. Takarazuka actress

References

External links

*
Komae City Official Website
{{Authority control Cities in Tokyo Western Tokyo