Keihin Industrial Zone

Keihin Industrial Zone

▪ industrial site, Japan
Japanese  Keihin Kōgyō Chitai,  also called  Tokyo-yokohama Region,  
 industrial region, centring on the Tokyo-Yokohama metropolitan area.

      Keihin, which is neither an administrative nor a political entity, extends inland from the northwestern shore of Tokyo Bay. It encompasses the to (metropolis) of Tokyo and includes part of Kanagawa ken (prefecture). The heart of the zone is the Kawasaki and Yokohama harbour area, a large industrial belt along the northwestern shore of Tokyo Bay.

      The Tokyo area began to grow only during the Tokugawa period (1603–1867), when Edo (as Tokyo was then called) became the seat of the Tokugawa shogunate, or military government. There was considerable economic development then, but the region was mostly a consumer of goods made elsewhere. At that time most commercial and industrial activity was based in the ancient cities of Kyōto and Ōsaka, an area that later became known as the Keihanshin Industrial Zone. With the tremendous growth of economic activity that occurred in Japan after the Meiji Restoration (1868), the Keihin region began to rival the older Keihanshin; but it was not until after World War II that the Tokyo area became the dominant economic region in Japan.

      In the postwar period the Keihin region has been at the centre of Japan's economic and industrial resurgence. The core of this growth has been the heavy industry concentrated in the Kawasaki-Yokohama harbour area, which includes steel mills, oil refineries, petrochemical complexes, and shipyards. Major land-reclamation projects in the bay have created room for industrial expansion. Further inland, plants have been built for the manufacture of such goods as automobiles, machinery, electrical equipment, textiles, and processed foods. Tokyo has become the centre of the publishing industry. Most of Japan's major banks and corporations are based in the city, making it the financial capital of the country as well.

      The tremendous and rapid growth of the region, however, has created numerous problems, one of the most serious being overcrowding. Despite the new industrial areas created by landfill, there has been a constant shortage of land for industrial growth at the centre of the Keihin zone. Transportation inadequacies and environmental pollution have also become major concerns. A consequence of these problems has been the relocation of plants outside of Keihin to the coastal areas of nearby Chiba and Ibaraki prefectures and to other areas of Japan.

* * *


Universalium. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно сделать НИР?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Keiyō Industrial Zone — ▪ industrial site, Japan Japanese  Keiyō Kōgyō Chitai,         industrial region in east central Japan that, along with the Keihin Industrial Zone, is part of the Tokyo Yokohama metropolitan area. Keiyō is neither an administrative nor a… …   Universalium

  • Keihanshin Industrial Zone — ▪ industrial area, Japan Japanese  Keihanshin Kōgyō Chitai,  also called  Kyōto ōsaka kōbe Region,         industrial region, south central Japan, centring on the Ōsaka Kōbe metropolitan area.       Bordered by Ōsaka Bay to the southwest and… …   Universalium

  • Keihin region — The Keihin region ( keihin chihō 京浜地方) consists of the Japanese cities Tokyo, Kawasaki, and Yokohama. The term is mostly used to describe these cities as one industrial region. It is derived from the second character of Tōkyō, 京, which can be… …   Wikipedia

  • japan — japanner, n. /jeuh pan /, n., adj., v., japanned, japanning. n. 1. any of various hard, durable, black varnishes, originally from Japan, for coating wood, metal, or other surfaces. 2. work varnished and figured in the Japanese manner. 3. Japans,… …   Universalium

  • Japan — /jeuh pan /, n. 1. a constitutional monarchy on a chain of islands off the E coast of Asia: main islands, Hokkaido, Honshu, Kyushu, and Shikoku. 125,716,637; 141,529 sq. mi. (366,560 sq. km). Cap.: Tokyo. Japanese, Nihon, Nippon. 2. Sea of, the… …   Universalium

  • Yokohama — /yoh keuh hah meuh/; Japn. /yaw kaw hah mah/, n. a seaport on SE Honshu, in central Japan, on Tokyo Bay: destructive earthquake 1923. 2,773,822. * * * Seaport city (pop., 2000 prelim.: 3,426,506), southeastern Honshu, Japan, on western Tokyo Bay …   Universalium

  • Chiba — /chee bah /, n. a city on SE Honshu, in central Japan, near Tokyo. 746,428. * * * ▪ Japan       city and capital of Chiba ken (prefecture), Honshu, Japan. It lies on the Bōsō Peninsula about 20 miles (30 km) southeast of Tokyo and on the east… …   Universalium

  • Tokyo — Tokyoite, n. /toh kee oh /; Japn. /taw kyaw/, n. a seaport in and the capital of Japan, on Tokyo Bay: one of the world s largest cities; destructive earthquake and fire 1923; signing of the Japanese surrender document aboard the U.S.S. Missouri,… …   Universalium

  • Kawasaki — /kah wah sah kee/, n. a seaport on SE Honshu, in central Japan, SW of Tokyo. 1,040,698. * * * City (pop., 2000 prelim.: 1,249,851) and port, Honshu, Japan. It lies on Tokyo Bay, between Tokyo and Yokohama. Almost completely destroyed in World War …   Universalium

  • Ichihara — I·chi·ha·ra (ē chēʹhä rä ) A city of east central Honshu, Japan, on Tokyo Bay opposite Tokyo. It is an industrial center. Population: 270,332. * * * ▪ Japan       city, Chiba ken (prefecture), Honshu, Japan. It lies on the east coast of Tokyo Bay …   Universalium

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”