The southern part of this town was originally a poorly draining, low-lying land. In that lowland, where rice grew poorly, lotus and reeds grew of themselves instead, and people lived by digging the roots of the lotus out of the mud. In time, in the early Showa era, when a single electrical company set up its head office and factory in this lowland, the town changed its form into a company town that walked together with that company. The town of lotus root and the factory of electricity, having held its population once, has shed that number in recent years. Kadoma’s numbers are the record of a town inscribed with the history of poorly draining lowland and the factory of electricity.
A city opening on the lowland of Kita-Kawachi, where the Furukawa and other rivers flow, in the northeastern part of Osaka Prefecture. The population has decreased consistently, from 135,648 in 2000 to 119,764 in 2020. What I (Atlas) want to read here is not the sign "an industrial city near Osaka," but the causal thread: how the history — the poorly draining lowland and the factory of electricity — is translated into today’s population and finances.
01 · Seeing the present Kadoma in its numbers
In the latest Population Census the population is about 120,000 (119,764 in 2020). Its course is a consistent decrease. From 135,648 in 2000, through 131,706 in 2005, 130,282 in 2010, 123,576 in 2015, to 119,764 in 2020, about sixteen thousand were lost over twenty years.
Looking inside, the figure befitting an industrial city opening on the lowland appears. The share aged 65 and over rose from 12.4% in 2000 to 29.7% in 2020 — by about seventeen points over twenty years — and approached three in ten. The household-with-children share is somewhat low, at 15.5% in 2020, and the Childcare Waitlist is zero in 2024 and three in 2025. The Fiscal Capacity Index was 0.66 in fiscal 2023, a middling level able to cover about two-thirds of expenditure with its own tax revenue. The figure of the lotus-root lowland, shedding its population consistently while advancing in aging, appears in the numbers. Why it takes this shape cannot be read without going back over the history of the lowland and the factory of electricity.
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 poorly draining lowland, the lotus root in the mud, the head office and factory of the electrical company, the company town — the history behind the numbers
The southern part of Kadoma was, even within Kawachi, especially low and poorly draining land. The story begins from this lowland. In that lowland, where rice grew poorly, lotus and reeds grew of themselves instead, and people lived by digging the roots of the lotus out of the mud. Lotus root has been known as one of this town’s old livelihoods.
Upon this lowland, the factory of electricity of the modern era overlapped. In the early Showa era, a single electrical company moved its head office and factory from its previous location to the lowland of this town. As this company grew larger, related factories and its subcontracting firms gathered in the town, and this town changed its form into a company town that walked together with that company. That the poorly draining lotus-root lowland was recomposed into a land where the manufacture of electricity gathered — this is the modern history of this town. The road to becoming a city too mirrors this town. This land became a city at the end of the late 1950s, with a population passing sixty thousand. The lowland and lotus root, the head office and factory of the electrical company, and the company town — the lowland of Kita-Kawachi, where the Furukawa and other rivers flow, took up these roles in that order.
Source: Kadoma City / Kadoma renkon (in the wetlands of Kawachi since the Yayoi period, rice grew poorly and lotus and reeds grew of themselves; Kadoma as "the town of lotus root and Matsushita" — overview) / Panasonic, "Building the Head Office and Factory in the Kadoma District, 1933" (Matsushita Electric built its head office and factory in the Kadoma district in 1933; afterward related and subcontracting factories agglomerated into a company town — overview) / Kadoma City (Kadoma Village became Kadoma Town, added neighboring villages and enforced city status in 1963 with over 60,000 people; the lowland of Kita-Kawachi along the Furukawa River — overview)
03 · In the lotus-root lowland, shedding its population consistently and advancing in aging
What characterizes Kadoma is that, holding the history of poorly draining lowland and the factory of electricity, it sheds its population consistently and advances in aging. From 135,648 in 2000 to 119,764 in 2020, about sixteen thousand were lost over twenty years. Even in this company town, which gathered people together with the electrical company, it can be read that a part of the young generation moved to the neighboring great metropolitan sphere, and the age of the whole town rose. That the share aged 65 and over rose from 12.4% in 2000 to 29.7% in 2020 — by about seventeen points over twenty years — and approached three in ten, is its expression.
On the other hand, the household-with-children share is somewhat low, at 15.5% in 2020, and the Childcare Waitlist stays small, at zero in 2024 and three in 2025. That the household-with-children share is somewhat low can be read as the flip side of the town’s age having risen. A Fiscal Capacity Index of 0.66 is a level able to cover about two-thirds of expenditure with its own tax revenue, in the middle. It can be read that the fixed assets of the factories gathered on the lowland and the income of the households living on the lowland support the tax base at the middle. The consistent decline of population, the aging approaching three in ten, and the fiscal strength that stays at the middle — these are not separate events, but different cross-sections of one course, in which the lowland gathered people together with the factories and that generation raised its years all together. Take out only one indicator, and the image of the town cannot be grasped.
Source: Population Census (Statistics Bureau, MIC) / Local Government Finance Survey, Fiscal Capacity Index (MIC) / Childcare Facility Status Report (Children and Families Agency)
04 · The town where the poorly draining lowland became the company town of the factory of electricity
Kadoma holds several functions of its own. One is the history of being, even within Kawachi, especially low and poorly draining land, where lotus and reeds grew instead of rice and the livelihood of lotus root was carried on by digging the roots of the lotus out of the mud. Another is the character of having, in the early Showa era, had a single electrical company set up its head office and factory, and of having changed its form into a company town that walked together with that company. And the landform of the lowland of Kita-Kawachi, where the Furukawa and other rivers flow, called in the wetland where the lotus grew, and later called in the land where the factory of electricity gathered.
Kadoma is the town where the poorly draining lowland became the company town of the factory of electricity. From the lotus root in the mud, through the head office and factory of the electrical company and the company town, to the decline of population — it was the seemingly disadvantageous condition of a wetland where rice would not grow that gave birth to the livelihood of lotus root, and later that same lowland called in the factory of electricity. Because it was low, rice did not ripen; because it was low, lotus grew; because it was low, factories gathered. In this town, the single condition of the lowness of the land pulls the trigger of every part of the history.
Source: Kadoma City / Kadoma renkon (in the wetlands of Kawachi since the Yayoi period, rice grew poorly and lotus and reeds grew of themselves; Kadoma as "the town of lotus root and Matsushita" — overview) / Panasonic, "Building the Head Office and Factory in the Kadoma District, 1933" (Matsushita Electric built its head office and factory in the Kadoma district in 1933; afterward related and subcontracting factories agglomerated into a company town — overview) / Kadoma City (Kadoma Village became Kadoma Town, added neighboring villages and enforced city status in 1963 with over 60,000 people; the lowland of Kita-Kawachi along the Furukawa River — overview)
05 · Atlas’s note — because the land was low enough that rice would not ripen, both lotus and factories took root
Lay out Kadoma’s numbers and indicators of an industrial city opening on the lowland line up: a population that lost about sixteen thousand over twenty years, an aging rate of 29.7%, a household-with-children share of 15.5%, and a fiscal capacity of 0.66. But to put it in my (Atlas) habit, as a certified public accountant, of chasing the cause behind the ledger, what I want to read here is that this town’s lowland holds a history that turned "poor drainage" to its own use. In this land, even within Kawachi especially low and where rice grew poorly, people lived instead by digging the roots of the lotus out of the wetland where lotus and reeds grew. The chain in which the poorly draining lowland, a condition unsuited to rice cultivation, gave birth to another livelihood, lotus root, can be read as a structure peculiar to wetlands.
One more thing I want to consider is that that same lowland was recomposed in the modern era into "a land where the factory of electricity gathered." In the early Showa era, when a single electrical company set up its head office and factory in the lowland of this town, related factories and subcontracting firms gathered, and the town changed its form into a company town. The knot of history in which the wetland where lotus grew was recomposed into a land where the manufacture of electricity gathered well explains the map of this town. On the other hand, the population lost about sixteen thousand over twenty years, the household-with-children share is somewhat low at 15.5%, and the age of the town has risen. That a land that changed its form from the lotus-root lowland to the company town of electricity now sheds its population together with that generation — this overlapping is peculiar to this town. Whether one reads it off as the sign "an industrial city near Osaka," or sees it as "the town where the poorly draining lowland became the company town of the factory of electricity," changes with the reader’s way of life. Precisely because it was low enough that rice would not ripen, the lotus took root, and precisely because it was that lowland, factories settled in. The single point of the lowness of the land brings about, together, both the livelihood and the decline of population of this town. From there on — whether to take the convenience of commuting, or the range that the budget allows, or what suits a family’s life — belongs to each reader’s own reckoning. In that account, I do not interpose.
Source: Population Census (Statistics Bureau, MIC) / Kadoma City / Kadoma renkon (in the wetlands of Kawachi since the Yayoi period, rice grew poorly and lotus and reeds grew of themselves; Kadoma as "the town of lotus root and Matsushita" — overview) / Panasonic, "Building the Head Office and Factory in the Kadoma District, 1933" (Matsushita Electric built its head office and factory in the Kadoma district in 1933; afterward related and subcontracting factories agglomerated into a company town — overview) / Kadoma City (Kadoma Village became Kadoma Town, added neighboring villages and enforced city status in 1963 with over 60,000 people; the lowland of Kita-Kawachi along the Furukawa River — 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: wave20_5