History
Saitama borders Tokyo directly to the north and has grown, over the last century, almost entirely in that shadow — from farmland into one of Japan’s most densely populated commuter prefectures, without ever quite shaking a national reputation for having no distinct identity of its own.
Saitama and the wider world
That reputation became the entire premise of a movie: “Fly Me to Saitama” (2019), a broad, self-aware comedy imagining a Japan where Tokyoites openly discriminate against people from Saitama, became a genuine box office hit and won over the very prefecture it was mocking, spawning a 2023 sequel. It’s a useful shortcut for understanding how Saitama sees itself relative to its famous neighbor: in on the joke, not especially offended by it.
More concretely, Saitama has hosted the world directly: when Japan and South Korea co-hosted the 2002 FIFA World Cup, newly built Saitama Stadium held several matches, including a semifinal — one of the larger global sporting events Japan has staged, and a rare moment of international spotlight landing squarely on the prefecture rather than passing through it toward Tokyo.
Neighbors: Saitama and Tokyo
Saitama’s entire modern identity is defined by its relationship to Tokyo — administratively separate, economically inseparable, and the subject of enough gentle Tokyo-centric condescension that Saitama residents turned it into a hit movie rather than a grievance.
Getting there and getting around
Omiya Station, a major Shinkansen junction, is about 30 minutes from Tokyo Station; Kawagoe is reachable directly from central Tokyo by regular train in under an hour. Chichibu requires a longer train or express bus connection.
.jpg)
