Musashino is located in the Musashino Terrace of central Tokyo Metropolis, bordered by the 23 Special Wards of Tokyo. Musashino is composed of the following neighborhoods: Kichijoji Kitamachi, Kichijoji Higashicho, Kichijoji Honcho, Kichijoji Minamicho, Kyonancho, Gotenyama, Sakai, Sakurazutumi, Sekimae, Nakacho, Nishikubo, Midoricho, and Yahatacho. Kichijōji includes the source of the Kanda River.
Surrounding municipalities
Tokyo Metropolis
*Suginami-ku
*Nerima-ku
*Mitaka
*Koganei
*Nishitōkyō
History
The area of present-day Musashino was part of ancient Musashi Province. In the post-Meiji Restoration cadastral reform of July 22, 1878, the area became part of Kitatama District in Kanagawa Prefecture. The village of Musashino was created on April 1, 1889 with the establishment of municipalities law. Kitatama District was transferred to the administrative control of Tokyo Metropolis on April 1, 1893. Musashino was elevated to town status in 1928. Nakajima Aircraft Company has an aircraft engine plant in Musashino, which became a target for American bombers in World War II. Musashino was elevated to city status on November 3, 1947.
Musashino has 12 public elementary schools and six public middle schools operated by the Musashino city government. There are also three private elementary schools, two private middle schools and two private combined middle/high schools.
Satoshi Kon's anime seriesParanoia Agent and Oyuki Konno's shōjo novel series Maria-sama ga Miteru take place in Musashino.
Shōhei Ōoka's 1951 novel A Wife in Musashino is a drama in which a moral and stoic woman, trapped in a loveless marriage with a selfish and morally decadent man, becomes implicated against her will in what looks like an affair with her younger cousin. The story ends tragically as she is let down by him as well as by her husband. Kenji Mizoguchi made the story into a film in 1951, starring Kinuyo Tanaka and Masayuki Mori.
Innocent Grey's 2007 visual novelKara no Shoujo features many scenes set in Musashino in 1956. Inokashira Park in particular serves as a pivotal setting for much of the story.
In the Yokohama Kaidashi Kikō manga by Hitoshi Ashinano, Musashino is the "former capital of the East" in a post-Apocalyptic Japan in which the ocean level continually rises, implying Tokyo itself had been submerged many years before it.
