Warabi, Saitama

Warabi (蕨市) is a city located in Saitama Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 75,614 in 41,025 households and a population density of 15,000 persons per km2. The total area of the city is 5.11 sqkm. Warabi has the smallest area of any municipality in Japan, and highest population density outside of the special wards of Tokyo.

Geography
Warabi is located southeastern part of Saitama Prefecture, bordering Saitama City in the north, Toda in the west, and Kawaguchi in the east. The city area is in the Arakawa lowland and averages 4.8 meters above sea level. Land use mainly consists of residential areas.

Surrounding municipalities

 * Saitama Prefecture
 * Kawaguchi
 * Toda
 * Saitama

Climate
Warabi has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cfa) characterized by warm summers and cool winters with light to no snowfall. The average annual temperature in Warabi 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.

Demographics
Per Japanese census data, the population of Warabi has remained relatively constant over the past 50 years.

History
Warabi developed from the Muromachi period as Warabi-shuku, a post town on the Nakasendō highway. It was created as a town with the establishment of the modern municipalities system on 1 April 1889 and was elevated to city status on 1 April 1959.

Government
Warabi has a mayor-council form of government with a directly elected mayor and a unicameral city council of 18 members. Warabi contributes one member to the Saitama Prefectural Assembly. In terms of national politics, the city is part of Saitama 15th district of the lower house of the Diet of Japan. The directly-elected executive mayor is Hideo Yoritaka, a member of the Japanese Communist Party.

Elections

 * 2007 Warabi mayoral election
 * 2007 Warabi city assembly election

Economy
Warabi has many small and medium-sized factories, which have employed many foreign workers. In particular, many Iranians and Kurds fled the ethnic problems and wars in the Middle East, and have settled in Warabi. Recently, the ratio of Chinese residents is the highest in Saitama Prefecture. The bulk of the working population commutes to Saitama City or Tokyo Metropolis, making Warabi largely a commuter town.

Education
Warabi has seven 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. There is also one combined private middle/high school.

High schools

 * Saitama Prefectural Warabi High School
 * Bunan Junior & Senior High School

Middle schools

 * Warabi Municipal No. 1 Junior High School
 * Warabi Municipal No. 2 Junior High School
 * Warabi Municipal Higashi Junior High School
 * Bunan Junior & Senior High School

Elementary schools

 * Warabi Municipal Chūō Elementary School
 * Warabi Municipal Chūō-Higashi Elementary School
 * Warabi Municipal Nishi Elementary School
 * Warabi Municipal Higashi Elementary School
 * Warabi Municipal Tsukagoshi Elementary School
 * Warabi Municipal Kita Elementary School
 * Warabi Municipal Minami Elementary School

Railway
JR East – Keihin-Tohoku line
 * Warabi

Sister city relations

 * 🇺🇸 El Dorado County, California, USA is a sister municipality to Warabi city in 26 March 1975.

Mascots
In 1989, the character Wallaby was designed by a competition entrant to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Warabi. In 2009, the characters design was changed to celebrate the 50th anniversary. In Japanese, Wallaby translates to "Warabi", which is the same as the city. A second mascot, called Angel Warabu, was designed in 2010. It was designed by Toshihiko Takamizawa of the band The Alfee, who is from Warabi. The mascot is a sleeping pig with wings.

Noted people from Warabi

 * Hidetaka Yoshioka, actor
 * Yasuhiro Suzuki, professional wrestler
 * Yana Toboso, manga artist
 * Haruna Kojima, actress and model, former member of AKB48
 * Gen Hoshino, singer-songwriter
 * Toshihiko Takamizawa, member of The Alfee