Kantō region has part(s) Tokyo
The Kantō region (関東地方, Kantō-chihō, IPA: [ka(ꜜ)ntoː tɕiꜜhoː]) is a geographical region of Honshu, the largest island of Japan. In a common definition, the region includes the Greater Tokyo Area and encompasses seven prefectures: Gunma, Tochigi, Ibaraki, Saitama, Tokyo, Chiba, and Kanagawa. Slightly more than 45 percent of the land area within its boundaries is the Kantō Plain. The rest consists of the hills and mountains that form land borders with other regions of Japan.
As the Kantō region contains Tokyo, the capital and largest city of Japan, the region is considered the center of Japan's politics and economy. According to the official census on October 1, 2010, by the Statistics Bureau of Japan, the population was 42,607,376, amounting to approximately one third of the total population of Japan.History
The heartland of feudal power during the Kamakura period and again in the Edo period, Kanto became the center of modern development. Within the Greater Tokyo Area and especially the Tokyo-Yokohama metropolitan area, Kanto houses not only Japan's seat of government but also the nation's largest group of universities and cultural institutions, the greatest population and a large industrial zone. Although most of the Kanto plain is used for residential, commercial or industrial construction, it is still farmed. Rice is the principal crop, although the zone around Tokyo and Yokohama has been landscaped to grow garden produce for the metropolitan market.In between January 1918 and April 1920, Japan was afflicted by Spanish flu pandemic, which the country clamed more than 400,000 lives.A watershed moment of Japan's modern history took place in the late Taishō period: the Great Kantō earthquake of 1923. The quake, which claimed more than 100,000 lives and ravaged Greater Tokyo area, occurred at a time when Japan was still reeling from the economic recession in reaction to the high-flying years during World War I.Operation Coronet, part of Operation Downfall, the proposed Allied invasion of Japan during World War II, was scheduled to land on the Kantō Plain. Most of the United States military bases on the island of Honshu are situated on the Kantō Plain. These include Naval Air Facility Atsugi, Yokota Air Base, Yokosuka Naval Base, and Camp Zama.The name Kanto literally means "East of the Barrier". The name Kanto is nowadays generally considered to mean the region east (東) of the Hakone checkpoint (関所). An antonym of Kanto, "West of the Barrier" means the Kansai region, which lies western Honshu and was the center of feudal Japan.After the Great Kanto earthquake (1923), many people in Kanto started creating art with different varieties of colors. They made art of earthquake and small towns to symbolize the small towns destroyed in the quake.Subdivisions
North and South
The most often used subdivision of the region is dividing it to "North Kantō" (北関東, Kita-Kantō), consisting of Ibaraki, Tochigi, and Gunma prefectures, and "South Kantō" (南関東, Minami-Kantō), consisting of Saitama (sometimes classified North), Chiba, Tokyo Metropolis (sometimes singulated), and Kanagawa prefectures. South Kantō is often regarded as synonymous with the Greater Tokyo Area. As part of Japan's attempts to predict earthquakes, an area roughly corresponding to South Kantō has been designated an 'Area of Intensified Observation' by the Coordinating Committee for Earthquake Prediction.The Japanese House of Representatives' divides it into the North Kantō (北関東, Kita-Kantō) electorate which consists of Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma, and Saitama prefectures, Tokyo electorate, and the South Kantō (南関東, Minami-Kantō) electorate which consists of Chiba, Kanagawa, and Yamanashi prefectures (note that Yamanashi is out of the Kantō region in the orthodox definition).
Keirin's South Kantō (南関東, Minami-Kantō) consists of Chiba, Kanagawa, and Shizuoka prefectures.East Kantō (東関東, Higashi-Kantō): Ibaraki, Tochigi, and Chiba prefectures.
West Kantō (西関東, Nishi-Kantō): Gunma, Saitama, Tokyo, Kanagawa (and sometimes Yamanashi) prefectures.Inland and Coastal
This division is sometimes used in economics and geography. The border can be modified if the topography is taken for prefectural boundaries.Inland Kantō (関東内陸部, Kantō nairiku-bu): Tochigi, Gunma, Saitama (and sometimes Yamanashi) prefectures.
Coastal Kantō (関東沿岸部, Kantō engan-bu): Ibaraki, Chiba, Tokyo, and Kanagawa prefectures.Greater Kantō
The Japanese national government defines the National Capital Region (首都圏, Shuto-ken) as the Kantō region plus Yamanashi Prefecture. Japan's national public broadcaster NHK uses Kantō-kō-shin-etsu (関東甲信越) involving Yamanashi, Nagano, and Niigata prefectures for regional programming and administration.Cities
The Kantō region is the most highly developed, urbanized, and industrialized part of Japan. Tokyo and Yokohama form a single industrial complex with a concentration of light and heavy industry along Tokyo Bay. Other major cities in the area include Kawasaki (in Kanagawa Prefecture); Saitama (in Saitama Prefecture); and Chiba (in Chiba Prefecture). Smaller cities, farther away from the coast, house substantial light and automotive industries. The average population density reached 1,192 persons per square kilometer in 1991.Economy
The Kantō region largely corresponds to the Tokyo Metropolitan Area with the exception that it does not contain Yamanashi prefecture.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Area has the largest city economy in the world and is one of the major global center of trade and commerce along with New York City, Los Angeles, Shanghai, Paris, Seoul, and London.
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