This town’s name was originally that of an old village, drawn, by tradition, from a single horse that broke its leg. Then, at the start of the Showa era, through a connection with a high-class golf course built nearby, it received from a certain princely house characters of the same reading and was changed to the present name. In time a military school moved to the town, and after the war its site became a foreign army’s base, and the town walked for more than thirty years as the town of the base. After the base was returned, the town became a residential area where people commuting to the city center live, and has consistently increased its population. Asaka-shi’s numbers are the record of a town inscribed with the renaming of a village and the history of a base.
A city in the southern part of Saitama Prefecture, opening where the Musashino plateau descends to the lowland of the Arakawa. The population has consistently increased, from 119,712 in 2000 to 141,083 in 2020. What I (Atlas) want to read here is not the sign “a residential area near the city center,” but the causal thread: how the history — the renaming of a village and the town of a base — is translated into today’s population and finances.
01 · Looking at the Asaka-shi of today in its numbers
In the latest Population Census the population is about 141,000 (141,083 in 2020). Its course is a consistent increase. From 119,712 in 2000, through 124,393 in 2005, 129,691 in 2010, and 136,299 in 2015, to 141,083 in 2020, it added about twenty-one thousand over twenty years.
Looking inside, the figure of a plateau city where people commuting to the city center live appears in a marked form. The share aged 65 and over rose from 10.5% in 2000 to 19.5% in 2020, but, while many regional cities approach four in ten, it does not reach two in ten, keeping strong youth. The household-with-children share is 22.6% in 2020, and the Childcare Waitlist was 17 in 2024 and 9 in 2025 — decreasing in recent years but remaining. The Fiscal Capacity Index was 0.97 in fiscal 2023, a high level covering nearly all of expenditure with its own tax revenue. A town that bore the name of a princely house, consistently increasing its population while keeping strong youth, appears in the numbers. Why it took this form cannot be read without going back over the renaming of a village and the history of a base.
Source: Population Census (Statistics Bureau, MIC) / Local Government Finance Survey, Fiscal Capacity Index (MIC) / Childcare Facility Status Report (Children and Families Agency) / Real Estate Information Library (MLIT)
02 · The horse-legend village, the princely-house renaming, the military school and base, the railway to the city center — the history behind the numbers
This town’s skeleton is set by a village name changed to bear that of a princely house, by the flow from a military school to a base placed in that land, and by the railway commuting to the city center. The opening layer is the renaming of a village. This town was originally called by a village name drawn, by an old tradition, from a single horse that broke its leg. At the start of the Showa era, a high-class golf course was built nearby, and through a connection with the princely house that held its honorary office, the village, as it became a town, received characters of the same reading as that princely house’s name and was changed to the present name. That an old legend-village name was replaced by a new name tied to a princely house is the beginning of this town’s name.
Upon this renaming, military history was layered. In wartime, military facilities such as a school for training army officers moved to this town. When the war ended, foreign forces stationed themselves at these facilities, and this town walked the next thirty-odd years as the town of the base. After the base was returned, its broad site was used as new land for the town. The railway too changed this town. A station of the loop railway running through Musashino and a station of a private railway heading for the city center were opened close enough to transfer between each other, and this town became a residential area easy to commute to the city center from. The path by which it became a city mirrors this town too. This land became the prefecture’s twenty-seventh city in the 1960s. A horse-legend village, a princely-house renaming, a military school and base, and a railway to the city center — this town’s form stands upon the renaming of a village and the history of a base that the Musashino plateau held.
Source: Asaka City, “The origin of the name Asaka” (Hizaori village renamed at the same time as it became a town; the same-sound characters “Asaka” were granted with permission from Prince Asaka Yasuhiko, honorary president of the Tokyo Golf Club — overview) / Asaka City, “The history of our hometown Asaka (10): the birth of Asaka City” (wartime military facilities such as the Army Preparatory Officers’ School; after the war, the town of the base — Camp Asaka [Camp Drake] — under the US occupation; city status as the 27th in the prefecture in 1967 — overview) / Camp Drake (the US base placed in Asaka after the war; about thirty years as the town of the base; the 1973 opening of Kita-Asaka on the Musashino Line and the 1974 opening of Asakadai on the Tobu Tojo Line — overview)
03 · On a plateau where the base was returned, it consistently increases its population and keeps strong youth
What characterizes Asaka-shi is that, while bearing the history of the town of a base, it consistently increases its population and keeps strong youth. From 119,712 in 2000 to 141,083 in 2020, it added about twenty-one thousand over twenty years. Behind this town increasing while many regional cities lose population, one can read its position in the southern part of Saitama Prefecture, easy to commute to the city center, the housing built on the plateau widened by the base’s return, and the young households raising children moving in one after another. That the share aged 65 and over does not reach two in ten at 19.5% in 2020, keeping strong youth, is its expression.
On the other hand, the Childcare Waitlist was 17 in 2024 and 9 in 2025 — decreasing in recent years but remaining. It can be read as the expression of childcare demand staying firm because young households keep moving in. A Fiscal Capacity Index of 0.97 is a level that covers nearly all of expenditure with its own tax revenue, and is high. The income of the many households commuting to the city center can be read as supporting the tax source high. The population consistently increases, the aging does not reach two in ten, and the fiscal stamina is on the higher side. These three figures seem separate matters, yet a single flow — young households raising children moving onto the plateau one after another — leaves a mark in the same direction on each.
Source: Population Census (Statistics Bureau, MIC) / Local Government Finance Survey, Fiscal Capacity Index (MIC) / Childcare Facility Status Report (Children and Families Agency)
04 · A name received and land returned
Asaka, as a town opened where the Musashino plateau descends to the lowland of the Arakawa, holds several functions of its own. One is the history by which a horse-legend village was renamed to bear the name of a princely house through a connection with a nearby golf course. Another is its character, continuing from a military school to a postwar base, and after that base was returned, holding the broad site and becoming a residential area commuting to the city center. And two railway stations, close enough to transfer between each other, called a residential area commuting to the city center onto this plateau.
Asaka is a town that bore the name of a princely house and holds housing on the site of a base. From a horse-legend village, to a princely-house renaming, a military school and base, and a residential area commuting to the city center — the geography of “the Musashino plateau descending to the lowland of the Arakawa” together with the closeness of the two railways turned a village bearing a princely house’s name into a residential area on the site of a base. The name was received from an outside connection, and the land was returned from the hand of the military. Upon a borrowed name and returned land stands the youth of today’s Asaka.
Source: Asaka City, “The origin of the name Asaka” (Hizaori village renamed at the same time as it became a town; the same-sound characters “Asaka” were granted with permission from Prince Asaka Yasuhiko, honorary president of the Tokyo Golf Club — overview) / Asaka City, “The history of our hometown Asaka (10): the birth of Asaka City” (wartime military facilities such as the Army Preparatory Officers’ School; after the war, the town of the base — Camp Asaka [Camp Drake] — under the US occupation; city status as the 27th in the prefecture in 1967 — overview) / Camp Drake (the US base placed in Asaka after the war; about thirty years as the town of the base; the 1973 opening of Kita-Asaka on the Musashino Line and the 1974 opening of Asakadai on the Tobu Tojo Line — overview)
05 · Atlas note — the youth upon a received name and returned land
Lay out Asaka’s numbers and the indicators of a plateau city where people commuting to the city center live, keeping strong youth, line up: a population increase of about twenty-one thousand over twenty years, an aging rate of 19.5%, a household-with-children share of 22.6%, fiscal capacity of 0.97. What I (Atlas), who have long read the back of ledger figures, want to read is the fact that this town’s name is “a received one.” A village name drawn from an old tradition of a horse breaking its leg received, through a connection with a nearby golf course, characters of the same reading as a certain princely house’s name, and was changed to the present name. The history by which a place name was renamed not by the land’s topography or industry but by an outside connection explains the making of this town’s name well.
One more thing to consider is the point that this town’s youth is tied to the event of the base’s return. The broad land that continued from a military school to a postwar base was returned after more than thirty years, and its site became the town’s new residential land. That a consolidated, broad piece of land was returned in a position easy to commute to the city center became the receptacle for receiving young households raising children one after another, consistently pushing up the population and keeping strong youth — that thread fits this town’s numbers well. The name was received from an outside connection, and the land was returned from the hand of the military. A borrowed name and returned land. Upon those two stands today’s Asaka, increasing its population with a youth that does not reach two in ten.
Source: Population Census (Statistics Bureau, MIC) / Asaka City, “The origin of the name Asaka” (Hizaori village renamed at the same time as it became a town; the same-sound characters “Asaka” were granted with permission from Prince Asaka Yasuhiko, honorary president of the Tokyo Golf Club — overview) / Asaka City, “The history of our hometown Asaka (10): the birth of Asaka City” (wartime military facilities such as the Army Preparatory Officers’ School; after the war, the town of the base — Camp Asaka [Camp Drake] — under the US occupation; city status as the 27th in the prefecture in 1967 — overview) / Camp Drake (the US base placed in Asaka after the war; about thirty years as the town of the base; the 1973 opening of Kita-Asaka on the Musashino Line and the 1974 opening of Asakadai on the Tobu Tojo Line — overview)
Editor’s note: all figures and sources are drawn from official statistics. The prose follows Atlas’s voice, and AI (atlas-handcrafted-reverse-v1 (Daiki 2026-06-02)) handled the shaping of the text. Evaluative or predictive language (such as “a good buy” or “attractive”) is intentionally left out. Revision id: wave19_9