Satte, Saitama



Satte (幸手市) is a city located in Saitama Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 50,256 in 22,853 households and a population density of 1500 pd/sqkm. The total area of the city is 33.93 sqkm.

Geography
Located in the flatlands far eastern Saitama Prefecture, Satte is at the convergence of Saitama, Chiba and Ibaraki Prefectures, at an average altitude of approximately 20 m above sea level. The Edo River and the Naka River flow through the city, which is approximately 50 km from downtown Tokyo.

Surrounding municipalities
Saitama Prefecture Chiba Prefecture Ibaraki Prefecture
 * Kuki
 * Sugito
 * Noda
 * Goka

Climate
Satte has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cfa) characterized by warm summers and cool winters with light to no snowfall. The average annual temperature in Satte is 14.6 °C. The average annual rainfall is 1336 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 3.5 °C

Demographics
Per Japanese census data, the population of Satte peaked around the year 2000 and has declined since.

History
During the Kamakura period, Satte developed as a post town on the Kamakura Kaidō, and maintained that role through the Edo period with the Nikkō Kaidō and the Nikkō Onari Kaidō.

The town of Satte was created within Kitakatsushika District, Saitama with the establishment of the modern municipalities system on April 1, 1889. It was raised to city status on October 1, 1986. Discussions to merge with neighboring Kuji and Washimiya in 2004 resulted in the selection of a new city name of Sakuranomiya (桜宮市), but the merger never took place.

Government
Satte has a mayor-council form of government with a directly elected mayor and a unicameral city council of 15 members. Satte, together with the town of Sugito, contributes one member to the Saitama Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is part of Saitama 14th district of the lower house of the Diet of Japan.

Economy
The economy of Satte is primarily agricultural.

Education

 * Japan University of Health Sciences
 * Satte has nine public elementary schools and three public middle schools operated by the city government, and one public high school operated by the Saitama Prefectural Board of Education.

Railway
Tōbu Railway - Tobu Nikkō Line
 * Satte

Local attractions

 * Gongendo Tsutsumi (権現堂堤). About 1,000 Yoshino cherry trees are spread out over 1 km along the top of the levee of the Gongendo river. During cherry blossom season, many visitors from all over the prefecture and beyond come to enjoy the picturesque pink and yellow of cherry and rapeseed blossoms, and vendors set up stalls. The levee is also sown with hydrangea and red spider lilies, which bloom in the summer and fall.

Notable people from Satte

 * Kagami Yoshimizu, the creator of the Lucky Star series, was born in Satte. Although he has now moved out of Satte, his house was turned into the Lucky Star Museum, made to resemble Konata Izumi's (one of the main characters in the series) house for a few years. The museum is now closed.