Message from the Mayor

Yoshiaki Kawai, Mayor of Kawagoe City

I am Yoshiaki Kawai, Kawagoe City Mayor.

Kawagoe City is located within a 30km-range from the center of Tokyo. The city has kept growing as a central city in the area for industry, economy, culture, and tourism with the population of 350,000.

In 1922, Kawagoe was incorporated as the first city in Saitama prefecture. In 1955, the city merged neighboring 9 villages and became Kawagoe City as it is today. In April 2003, it became a Core City designated by the Local Autonomy Law. A Core City has authority second to an Ordinance-Designated City as a leader in decentralization of power. In 2022, the city celebrated the 100th anniversary since its incorporation, embarking on a new history toward the next milestone.

Businesses supporting the city are commerce, agriculture, and industry. Commerce has flourished centering on 3 stations: Kawagoe, Hon-Kawagoe, and Kawagoe-shi stations. Agriculture in the city plays an important role in supplying food to the Tokyo metropolitan area. Industrial districts in northern and southwestern sides of the city boost top level shipment values in Saitama prefecture. The city’s businesses are well balanced between these three fields.

As efforts to improve child rearing support and the educational environment, the city supports healthy growth of the next generation as follows: increasing the amount of a medical subsidy for children up to the age 18; providing benefits for childbirth; completing the installation of air conditioners to regular classrooms for elementary and junior high schools; and currently installing air conditioners to gymnasiums.

In 2023, the Sannozuka Kofun was designated as a National Historic Site. A traditional agricultural method in Musashino Upland, Saitama, the Fallen Leaves Compost System, was designated as a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). It is a great honor that our historical and cultural heritage has been recognized by the national government and the world, and we will continue to cherish and pass on the history and culture of Kawagoe City to the next generation.

We will keep improving the attractiveness of Kawagoe so that people who hear about the city for the first time will think they wish to visit someday and those who now live in the city are proud and content living as citizens.

We hope that this website will help you to learn more about Kawagoe.