Keihin Kogyo Chitai
京浜工業地帯
けいひんこうぎょうちたい
Extends along the shores of Tokyo Bay and nearby inland areas. Tokyo, Kawasaki, and Yokohama are the zone's principal cities. It ranks first in Japan in the value of industrial goods produced. Factors that contributed to its growth are its proximity to Japan's greatest consumer markets and labor force and to the ports of Tokyo and Yokohama. The heart of the zone is the coastal industrial belt between Kawasaki and Yokohama, where giant steel mills, oil refineries, petrochemical plants, shipyards, primary food-processing plants, thermoelectric plants, and other plants are located. Automobile, electric machinery, secondary food-processing, and precision machine plants are located further inland. The country's largest publishing houses and printing plants are located in the Tokyo area. Since the 1970s, overpopulation, pollution, and a shortage of industrial water have caused many plants in the central part of the zone to relocate.
*Encyclopedia of Japan, Kodansha International, 1999
|
|
