About Soka
Soka City was incorporated on November 1, 1958 with a population of 34,878. The population swelled to over 50,000 within a few years because of the completion of the Matsubara-danchi housing project, unprecedented in size at that time and the connection of the Tobu Line and the Hibiya Line giving direct access to central Tokyo from 1962. By 1968 Soka became the 8th city in Saitama Prefecture to boast a population of more than 100,000. Soka’s convenient location next to Tokyo led to further rapid population growth from the late 1970s and Soka is today a city of more than 240,000.
Cosmopolitan Soka
More than 4500 foreign residents from some 80 countries call Soka home. This is approximately 1.9% of the population and is close to the national average. Soka City and local volunteer groups cooperate to provide Japanese classes and assistance with living in a new environment for foreign residents. On the other hand, foreign residents can be seen cooperating at the Intercultural Information Corner and with the Soka International Association to introduce their cultures at the Kokusai Mura Ichibanchi International Festival every May and at the Soka Shimin Matsuri Festival in October. Together everyone is working towards the goal of a truly multicultural society in cosmopolitan Soka.
A pleasant city
Soka City closely monitors how society is changing in relation to the global environment, aging of society, information highway and internationalization and promotes policies in partnership with the citizenry with the purpose of attaining a pleasant city where citizens “will always want to live and feel comfortable raising their children.”