Kawaguchi, Saitama

Kawaguchi 川口市
Core city
View of downtown Kawaguchi
UTC+9 (Japan Standard Time)
- Tree	Camellia sasanqua
- Flower	Lilium longiflorum
Phone number	048-258-1110
Address	2-1-1 Aoki, Kawaguchi-shi, Saitama-ken 332-0031
Website	Official website

Kawaguchi (川口市, Kawaguchi-shi) is a

Saitama Prefecture

• Koshigaya
• Sōka
• Saitama
• Warabi
• Toda

• Kita
• Adachi

Climate

Kawaguchi has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cfa) characterized by warm summers and cool winters with light to no snowfall. The average annual temperature in Kawaguchi is 14.8 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1482 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 3.2 °C.^[2]

Demographics

As of May 1, 2010, registered population was 516,409, including 20,808 alien residents, continuing a trend of population growth in the city since 1933 when the city was founded. There has been a gradual increase in the number of non-Japanese residents living in the city because of the convenient location to Tokyo and relatively low rent. Now, the number of people from China is the largest, followed by Korea and Philippines.^[3]

Kawaguchi is a typical suburb city in the Tokyo metropolitan area, where population greatly changes between daytime and nighttime due to commute to big cities, especially to Tokyo. Its population growth rate declined in the mid-1990s, but recent apartment construction boom in the city has helped to increase the population growth rate again. The number of children continues to decrease in accordance with the declining number of births; in 2009 4,735 live births were recorded in the city, a marked decrease from the 1971 peak of 7,932 births. By contrast, the rate of people over the age of 65 is increasing, and stood at approximately 18.5% as of January 1, 2010, although this is still below the national average.^[4]

In June 2023, 41,471 people in Kawaguchi were not Japanese citizens; 23,637 people of them held Chinese citizenship.^[5][6]

History

After the last

Kawaguchi has experienced many disasters, including flood, earthquake and war. The Arakawa River has inundated Kawaguchi countless times and ruined agriculture, which resulted in famines. Also, the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake damaged buildings in Kawaguchi, killing 99 people.

Currently, the population of Kawaguchi continues to increase, and many tall apartment buildings are being built around train stations. This is because many casting foundries moved to suburban industrial parks and the former sites were turned into residential areas.^[7]

On April 1, 2001, Kawaguchi was designated a special city, with increased local autonomy.

On October 11, 2011, Kawaguchi re-absorbed the city of Hatogaya.

Government

Kawaguchi has a

Economy

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (March 2016)

Education

Universities and colleges

• Saitama Gakuen University
• Kawaguchi Junior College
• Kawaguchi Art School of Waseda University

High schools

Saitama Prefectural Board of Education [ja] operates:

• Saitama Prefectural Kawaguchi High School [ja]
• Saitama Prefectural Kawaguchi Kita High School [ja]
• Saitama Prefectural Kawaguchi Technical High School [ja]
• Saitama Prefectural Kawaguchi Seiryo High School [ja]
• Saitama Prefectural Kawaguchi Higashi High School [ja]
• Saitama Prefectural Hatogaya High School [ja]

The Kawaguchi Municipal Board of Education operates:

• Kawaguchi Municipal High School [ja]

Junior high schools

(all managed by the city)

Elementary schools

(all managed by the city)

Special schools

• Saitama Prefectural Kawaguchi Special Needs School^[8]
• Saitama Korean Kindergarten (
  North Korean school^[9]
  -- (Abolished on March 31, 2014 )

• Kawaguchi - Nishi-Kawaguchi

• Higashi-Kawaguchi

Saitama Rapid Railway Line

• Minami Hatogaya - Hatogaya - Araijuku - Tozuka-angyō - Higashi-Kawaguchi

Kawaguchi has a highly developed bus network, mainly operated by Kokusai Kogyo Bus. The east region of the city is relatively far from train stations, many people use buses to the nearest train stations. Some bus routes have over twenty bus services an hour in the morning.[10]

Bus operators

• Kokusai Kogyo Bus
• Tobu Bus Central

Highway

• Tōhoku Expressway – Kawaguchi Junction
• Tokyo Gaikan Expressway – Kawaguchi-Nishi Interchange, Kawaguchi-Chūō Interchange, Kawaguchi Junction, Kawaguchi-Higashi Interchange
• Kawaguchi Route – Kawaguchi Junction, Araijuku, Angyō, Shingo, Higashi Ryoke
• National Route 122
• National Route 298

Local attractions

• Kawaguchi Green Center
• Kawaguchi Shrine
• Former Tanaka Family Residence

Notable people from Kawaguchi

• Yoshitaka Shindō, politician
• Yukio Tomioka, politician
• Yukio Ninagawa, stage director
• Kumiko Ohba
  , actress
• Hiroyuki Endo, retired badminton player
• Nanae Takahashi, Professional wrestler

References

External links

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Kawaguchi.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kawaguchi, Saitama.

• Official Website (in Japanese)