The city of Saitama became the capital of its namesake prefecture and Japan's latest metropolis Tuesday, upon the merger of the cities of Urawa, Omiya and Yono.
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| Takeharu Onoda holds up a new license plate for his 90cc bike at the Saitama City Office, showing he was the first to register in the new prefectural capital. |
Residents celebrated the founding in a ceremony held at the new municipal office, the former Urawa City Hall, with Saitama Gov. Yoshihiko Tsuchiya attending. Urawa is the former capital of the prefecture.
Tsuchiya said he was very satisfied with the realization of the merger at the beginning of a new century.
"I hope Saitama City will be designated by the central government as one of Japan's major urban areas as soon as possible," he said at a news conference. "The prefectural government will do its best to help."