The city of Yono in Saitama Prefecture is located between Urawa and Omiya. When the Saikyo Line was built to carry passengers between the Saitama bed towns and Tokyo's Shinjuku district, three new train stations were created within the Yono city limits, all of them within 40 to 50 minutes commuting distance from central Tokyo.

As new housing projects spread to the north part of the city, redevelopment of the area around Kita-Yono station was begun. The city is taking on the status of the entranceway to Saitama Prefecture's urban development plans.

Car dealerships and factories turning out automobile bodies extend for miles along National Highway 17 and the Omiya Bypass, giving Yono the identity of a "car town". At the end of March 1994, however, the arts and culture side of the area was given a boost with the completion of the Saitama Arts Theater, on a spacious, 19,000 m² site.

Starting in the late 1960s there was a trend throughout Japan of building "multi-purpose halls", which finally played itself out in the 1980s, when halls dedicated to specific art forms such as music, theater, or dance arts became common. This was helped by the growing sophistication of Japanese audiences. Japan also began to see the construction of bigger halls capable of staging operas and other large-scale works. The Saitama Arts Theater represents a revolutionary turn in hall architecture in that it consists of four dedicated halls (a theatrical arts hall, concert hall, small theater hall, and cinema arts hall); moreover, the theatrical arts hall is designed for staging operas. In addition to these four halls there are various-sized rehearsal and practice rooms. Overall the halls and other rooms are linked by a rotunda and 100-meter-long glass-roofed gallery to form one building, resulting in Japan's first total performing arts complex. Inside the entranceway are an information plaza covering events in all the halls, and a restaurant. A stairway leads to a central open space, the rotunda that characterizes the building. The rotunda serves as the lobby for all four halls, and as a communication area. Colorful entrances leading to each hall are modeled after the gates on traditional theatrical playhouses. Audiences pass through here before curtain time and between acts.

Project Summary Project name: Saitama Prefecture Arts Theater Construction Location: 3-540-1 Uemine, Yono-shi, Saitama Prefecture, Japan Contracted by: Saitama Prefecture Design supervision: Construction by: Hazama, Taisei, Yao (Hachio?) Joint Venture Construction period: December 25, 1991 to March 25, 1994 Description: Steel reinforced concrete building, 4 floors above ground and 2 rotunda floors Site: 18,970.30 m2 Building area: 10,905.97 m2 Total floor space: 23,759.32 m2 Construction floor space: 29,380.00 m2