| Suginami 杉並 |
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| — Special ward — | |||
| 杉並区 · Suginami City | |||
| A street in Suginami | |||
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| Location of Suginami in Tokyo | |||
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Suginami
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| Coordinates: | |||
| Country | Japan | ||
| Region | Kantō | ||
| Prefecture | Tokyo | ||
| Government | |||
| • Mayor | Ryo Tanaka (since June 2010) | ||
| Area | |||
| • Total | 34.02 km2 (13.1 sq mi) | ||
| Population (April 1, 2011) | |||
| • Total | 538,703 | ||
| • Density | 15,834.39/km2 (41,010.9/sq mi) | ||
| Time zone | Japan Standard Time (UTC+9) | ||
| City symbols | |||
| - Tree | Pine, Dawn Redwood, Sasanqua | ||
| Phone number | 81(0)3-3312-2111 | ||
| Address | Asegaya Minami 1-15-1, Suginami Ward, Tokyo 165-8570 |
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| Website | www.city.suginami.tokyo.jp | ||
Suginami (杉並区 Suginami-ku) is one of the 23 special wards of Tokyo, Japan. In English, it calls itself Suginami City.
As of April 1, 2011, the ward has an estimated population of 538,703, with 301,277 households, and a density of 15,834.39 persons per km². The total area is 34.02 km².
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Suginami occupies the western part of the ward area of Tokyo. Its neighbors include these special wards: to the east, Shibuya and Nakano; to the north, Nerima; and to the south, Setagaya. Its western neighbors are the cities of Mitaka and Musashino.
The Kanda river passes through Suginami. The Zenpukuji river originates from Zenpukuji Park in western Suginami, and the Myoshoji river originates in Myoshoji Park, to the north of Ogikubo station.
The center of population of Tokyo lies in Omiya 1-chome in Suginami.
The name Suginami dates back to the early Edo period and is a shortened version of "Suginamiki," or "avenue of cedars." This name came about when an early land baron, Lord Tadayoshi Okabe, planted a row of cedar trees to mark the border of his property.[1]
The ward was founded on March 15, 1947.
In 1970, 40 high school students were exposed to photochemical smog and required hospitalization. The incident attracted national attention and increased awareness of the dangers of pollution.[1]
A list of the neighborhoods which make up Suginami-ku (杉並区).
Historically, Suginami has leaned toward liberal activism. In 1954, local housewives launched the "Suginami Appeal" against nuclear weapons, a petition that spread nationwide and ultimately collected 20 million signatures.[1] More recently in 2005, Suginami became part of Japan's fight against nationalist textbook revisionism when residents petitioned Tokyo's courts to prevent the adoption of a controversial textbook published by Fusosha Publishing which claimed to justify Japanese actions during World War II.[1] The ward has also passed an ordinance placing limits on the installation of security cameras.[1]
To combat burglaries, which reached a record number of 1,710 in 2002, the ward created an unconventional anti-crime program called Operation Flower. The ward urged residents to plant flowers facing the street, with the long-term goal of increasing neighborhood watchfulness (necessitated by watering and otherwise attending to the plants). In addition, 9,600 volunteers were recruited for neighborhood safety patrols, 200 security cameras were placed at crime-vulnerable areas, and a daily email update was created for residents. Subsequent to the start of the program, burglaries were down 80% to 390 in 2008.[2]
As of 2006, the mayor of Suginami is Hiroshi Yamada.[1]
Suginami refused to connect to Japan's Residents Basic Registry Network.[1] As of 2005, it is implementing a measure to make registry optional.
Suginami operates public elementary and junior high schools.
Public high schools are operated by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Board of Education.
Several anime studios are located in Suginami. Bones is headquartered in Igusa,[3] while Sunrise has its headquarters near the Kami-Igusa Station on the Seibu Shinjuku Line.[4] Bones was founded by former members of Sunrise, and staff at each company often help each other on projects. The Satelight studio, originally founded in Sapporo, relocated to the Asagaya neighborhood in 2006 (an earlier Tokyo office, at a different location in Suginami, had been in existence since 2003).[5] In addition, many smaller studios are based here; as of 2006, over 70 studios (of 400 throughout Japan) were located in Suginami.[1]
The communications and electronics giant Iwatsu Electric is headquartered in Kugayama.[6]
Hewlett Packard Japan operates two offices, the Ogikubo office and the Takaido office, in Suginami.[7]
Microsoft has a branch office in the Daitabashi Asahi Seimei Building in Izumi.[8]
Prior to its disestablishment, Data East had its headquarters in Suginami.[9]
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