Fuchū, Tokyo

Fuchū is a city in the western part of the Tokyo Metropolis, about 20 kilometres west of the centre of Tokyo, and it serves as a regional commercial centre and a commuter town for workers in central Tokyo. It spreads across the Musashino Terrace on the left bank of the Tama River, where two cliffs known locally as hake run from west to east across mostly flat land. Its role as a local seat is old: the Taika Reforms of 645 placed the government of ancient Musashi Province here, and the town later prospered as a post town on the Kōshū Kaidō in the Edo period. Today the city hosts large manufacturing facilities for Toshiba, NEC and Suntory and the main computer operations centre of the Bank of Japan, and its sporting landmarks include the Tokyo Racecourse. In 2025 it had an estimated population of 264,534 on an area of 29.43 square kilometres.