Tokorozawa Neopolis
Tokorozawa City, Saitama Prefecture
About Tokorozawa Neopolis
Tokorozawa is the fourth most populous city in Saitama Prefecture. The Tokorozawa Neopolis was built in the Tomioka district located in the northern part of Tokorozawa City in 1970. The nearest station, Shin-Tokorozawa Station on the Seibu Shinjuku Line, provides easy access to Ikebukuro and Shinjuku, with travel from Tokorozawa Neopolis to Ikebukuro Station taking approximately one hour.
Approximately 680 households are living in Tokorozawa Neopolis as of 2021. As the complex is located in an urbanization control area, it is surrounded by abundant nature such as wooded areas and fields, and many households with children reside there. Another feature is that various medical and nursing care facilities are located in the surrounding area. On the other hand, due to the lack of commercial facilities such as supermarkets and drugstores within walking distance and infrequent bus service to Shin-Tokorozawa Station, some elderly residents are facing problems with daily shopping. The percentage of elderly in Oaza Shimotomi, where Tokorozawa Neopolis is located, is about 41.9% according to the 2020 census, and this rate is expected to increase in the future and form a critical issue. The residents have also voiced concerns about the lack of interaction between younger generations who have recently moved into the complex and older generations who have long lived in the complex.
With agriculture and welfare as keywords, we are working together with the residents to create a community where the needs of the elderly are satisfied with the use of local resources, where cooperation is promoted among communities of different age groups, and where people can live healthily and happily through intergenerational mutual support.
To date, we have listened to the needs and concerns of the residents through participation in community associations and resident activities and events, and have shared our vision. In April 2024, the Miramachi Town Meeting, a forum for discussion among residents and local businesses, was established to exchange opinions on community development. To help residents realize what they want to do for their community, we are joining forces with them to help them create a sustainable framework.
About Tokorozawa Neopolis
- Sales start: 1969
- Site area: 132,000m2(about 3 times the size of Tokyo Dome)
- Number of lots for sale: 483
- Percentage of elderly: 41.9%* (approx.)
- Population: 5,658*
*From 2020 census (all areas of Oaza Shimotomi)
*The total population includes persons of unknown age, but the percentage of elderly is calculated by excluding persons of unknown age from the total population.
Tokorozawa Neopolis Miramachi Town Meeting
Connecting people lead to initiatives
The Tokorozawa Neopolis Miramachi Town Meeting (Miramachi Town Meeting) was formed by residents and local businesses who sought to take actions for the town, in response to the Neopolis Summit 2024 held in January 2024. It now includes residents of all ages, from their 20s through 80s, as well as farmers, medical and nursing care facilities, and other local businesses.
This meeting is a place for them to learn about local issues and attractions through discussions, freely express and share their ideas, discover tips for actions and collaborators, and realize their own aspirations. By building cooperative relationships among those living in the area, it aims to create a sustainable community where everyone can live in with peace of mind.
To realize a community they envision, members of Miramachi Town Meeting took the initiative in launching various projects and starting activities. One issue that has been raised is the need for income-generating activities and incorporation of an organization in order to ensure the stable implementation of these projects. We will continue the activities by multiplying the strengths of various people in the community.
Project Delivering Vegetables to Neopolis
A project born from the Tokorozawa Neopolis Miramachi Town Meeting
One of the projects launched by the Miramachi Town Meeting is a Project Delivering Vegetables to Neopolis.
Tokorozawa Neopolis lacks supermarkets, drugstores and other commercial facilities located within walking distance, which makes shopping a problem for elderly residents who have no means of transportation after having returned their driver licenses. Coming to know this issue faced by the town, local farmers, hoping to deliver vegetables to Tokorozawa Neopolis, proposed at Miramachi Town Meeting to have an open-air market, and a decision was adopted to open the market every Saturday. Residents consented to the farmers' idea also cooperate in the project, and activities are gradually expanding with the involvement of the local community.
The vegetables are sold at a vacant lot of about 50 tsubo (approx. 165 m2) within the residential area. On Saturday mornings, everyone in the complex gathers at the open-air market with shopping bags in their hands. It is impressive that shoppers seem to be enjoying themselves, engaged in lively conversation. This shopping experience brings together the people in the area, serving as a catalyst for building a community.
Below are examples of positive feedback we received from the open-air market users.
- - I am glad to have such a place to shop nearby!
- - The vegetables were delicious!
- - Is it open every week? I’ll definitely come back.
In order for this kind of initiative to continue, we believe it is essential to create a win-win-win situation for all the parties concerned: those who run the open-air market, vendors who sell their products, and residents who use the market. Although there remain some issues to be addressed, we are studying a three-way beneficial scheme in cooperation with business operators and residents.
Health Promotion Experience Session
Cooperation with local medical and nursing care facilities
We are working on activities with one goal in mind: creating a community where people can continue residing with peace of mind even in old age. In order to realize a community we envision, it is also important to increase the health awareness of each and every resident. As a step toward raising health awareness, we started by conducting a health promotion experience session where residents learn about their own physical conditions. Elderly people, in particular, are interested in health-related matters, so we thought the session would serve as an opportunity for us to connect with the elderly, and for the elderly to interact with each other.
The health promotion experience session was conducted through cooperation among the Higashi Tomioka branch of Health Co-operative Saitama, Aqua Mate Tokorozawa (a community day service), NEC Corporation, and Daiwa House Industry Co., Ltd. With the cooperation of private businesses, gait and bone density measurements, which are not usually available, were also conducted.
In addition to the businesses that cooperated with us this time, there are many elderly welfare facilities in the vicinity of Tokorozawa Neopolis, which is a unique feature of the town and one of its valuable resources. We believe that ties among residents, private businesses, companies, and the government would achieve something that cannot be done by the residents alone. Also, such connections help ensure initiatives to be implemented on a continual basis. Based on this belief, we are promoting collaborations actively.
We hope that local elderly welfare facilities and residents connect to each other and implement projects ongoingly, and in the future, we aim to deepen connections with the facilities and provide necessary services to the community. We intend to work together as a partner to create systems allowing the elderly to continue residing in the town.
Agricultural Salon
Agriculture and community
As an initiative combining agriculture and community, an Agricultural Salon is being held, led by local farmers who are participants in Miramachi Town Meeting. At the Agricultural Salon, residents gather to talk and help the farmers remove the mud from harvested taro, sort them by size, and pack them in bags.
Tokorozawa Neopolis is a residential area surrounded by fields, but until now there has been little interaction between the residents and local farmers. Not a few residents grow vegetables in their own gardens and many of them also like farming work. Some also expressed a hope for a place where they could easily chat with others in the community. Likewise, farmers also wanted more people to know about the delicious vegetables available locally. Matching the hopes of both the farmers and residents, this project was launched.
The Agricultural Salon was held three times by March 2025 with a total of 24 participants, all of whom responded in the post-salon questionnaire that they would like to participate again. Although there are some challenges, such as the fact that the event is affected by the weather and growing conditions of the vegetables, as well as the method of sharing information, we intend to create a system that ensures the continuous holding of the event.
Intergenerational Exchanges
Community events connecting generations
Many households with children are residing in Tokorozawa Neopolis, and the town is filled with cheerful voices of children with approximately 130 elementary school students*. Despite many children in the area, local events have been shrinking due to a variety of factors, such as the increasing burden of managing children's associations as people’s lifestyles change. As a result, there are fewer opportunities for households with children and those with elderly members to get to know and interact with each other. (*As of 2025)
Therefore, with the cooperation of the children's associations, local businesses, and residents, we jointly hold various events to create opportunities for intergenerational interaction, through offering cooperation in the associations’ events, or receiving their cooperation for our events.
The events held so far include:
- ☆ Children’s association and local farmers ➡ Summer vegetable harvesting experience, vegetable sales event by children
- ☆ Children’s association and residents ➡ Kids' Third Place serving as a place for children to stay during summer vacation
- ☆ Children’s association and local businesses ➡ Neopolis Market, a bazaar hosted by the children's association,
and more.
We believe that having the elderly participate in the events as volunteers will provide an opportunity for them to get to know other members of the community.
Hoping to be of service to the children with a future, many people involved in Tokorozawa Neopolis have been engaged in various activities within their capabilities, such as watching over first-graders as they leave school. Going forward, attracting more people to these activities, we will continue efforts for the sake of children with a future, so that they consider Tokorozawa Neopolis a hometown and hope to continue living there into the future.