1,206-CITY ATLASSOURCE-BACKED CITY REFERENCE
Japan
Compare this sourced profile of Niigata, Japan before planning. Stable fields identify the place; confirm current transport, access and opening details with official sources.
01What the data says — and does not say
This page separates the checked GeoNames row for Niigata—797,591, Asia/Tokyo, and source coordinates—from live travel claims. Those fields identify and compare the record; they do not prove current transport, accessibility, census totals, or a City Atlas Club visit.
02This city's dataset fingerprint
The source row behind Niigata is GeoNames ID 1855431. Its recorded administrative path is Niigata Shi → Niigata → Japan, and GeoNames classifies the place as a first-order administrative seat. Niigata occurs once as a primary city label in this atlas sample; the numeric ID remains the durable source key if names change. The city row itself was updated 2024-01-18; that date belongs to the source record, not to every transport or visitor detail in the real destination.
Within the fixed 1,206-record atlas, Niigata ranks 696 by recorded population. Inside the 34 selected Japan entries it ranks 16; inside the 632 entries in its broad region it ranks 398. Its 797,591 population value is 1.04 times the 769,894 median for the country cohort and 0.79 times the 1,008,426 regional median. Niigata sits in the second quarter of this atlas's Japan population cohort. Niigata's recorded value stays within one quarter of the country-cohort median used here. These comparisons describe this selected dataset only; they are not current census rankings or official urban-area boundaries.
Niigata's three nearest other atlas coordinates are Sendai at 164.257 km with 1,096,704 recorded people; Utsunomiya at 168.188 km with 518,757 recorded people; Saitama at 230.585 km with 1,324,854 recorded people. The closest-to-farthest distance spread is 66.328 km. Compared with Sendai, Niigata's recorded population is 0.73 times as large. Against Niigata, Sendai follows Sendai Shi → Miyagi → Japan in the source. Its point has higher latitude and higher longitude; it belongs to the same selected Japan cohort, uses the shared Asia/Tokyo identifier, and carries the same first-order administrative seat class. Its recorded population is above Niigata's. Against Niigata, Utsunomiya follows Utsunomiya Shi → Tochigi → Japan in the source. Its point has lower latitude and higher longitude; it belongs to the same selected Japan cohort, uses the shared Asia/Tokyo identifier, and carries the same first-order administrative seat class. Its recorded population is below Niigata's. Against Niigata, Saitama follows Saitama-shi → Saitama → Japan in the source. Its point has lower latitude and higher longitude; it belongs to the same selected Japan cohort, uses the shared Asia/Tokyo identifier, and carries the same first-order administrative seat class. Its recorded population is above Niigata's. Its nearest-neighbor distance ranks 911 of 1,206 from shortest to longest in the same snapshot. Niigata's nearest-coordinate gap belongs to the wider half of atlas distances. This pattern can reveal whether other catalog references are geographically close, but it cannot establish whether a border crossing is possible or practical, or whether rail, road, fare, or journey-time connections exist. Read as one record signature, GeoNames 1855431, the coordinate pair 37.9226 / 139.0413, country rank 16 of 34, and neighbor GeoNames 2111149 at 164.257 km bind Niigata to a reproducible comparison. That combined key distinguishes the row; it is not a recommendation or evidence of a physical connection.
Niigata's reference point is 37.9226° north and 139.0413° east. The IANA identifier Asia/Tokyo is shared by 34 city rows in this catalog, while the GeoNames class PPLA is shared by 429 rows. Niigata's row carries both second- and first-order administrative labels. Niigata's point falls in the middle-latitude coordinate band used by this atlas's row checks. Niigata's time-zone field defines the narrower catalog cohort; its place class is shared more broadly. GeoNames supplies no elevation for Niigata, so the profile preserves that missing value instead of guessing terrain. Together these fields form a reproducible identity check for this page, not a claim about walkability, climate or accessibility.
03Nearby atlas references
Niigata's closest other entries in this atlas are Sendai (164.257 km), Utsunomiya (168.188 km), Saitama (230.585 km).
04Verify before you book
Before visiting Niigata, confirm changing decisions with current first-party sources:
Read how City Atlas Club verifies changing travel facts →05Sources and freshness
GeoNames updated the row 2024-01-18; the atlas checked the dataset 2026-08-04. Available Wikidata fields were verified in the same run.
GeoNames data: CC BY 4.0. Wikidata labels and descriptions: CC0 1.0.