Kanagawa
(2002 est. pop. 8.6 million). Kanagawa Prefecture is situated in the central region of Japan's island of Honshu, where it occupies an area of 2,403 square kilometers. Its main geographical features are western mountains, southeastern plains, and the rivers Sagamigawa and Tamagawa. It is bordered by Tokyo and Sagami Bays and by Tokyo, Shizuoka, and Yamanashi Prefectures. Once known as Sagami Province, it assumed its present name in 1876 and present borders in 1893.
The prefecture's capital is Yokohama (2002 estimated population 3.5 million), beside the nation's major harbor. Yokohama was a small fishing village until 1858, when it was opened to Western ships and soon housed a residential compound of foreign diplomats and traders. In 1872, the nation's first railway linked its port to Tokyo. The 1923 earthquake leveled sixty thousand buildings and took twenty thousand lives. World War II bombing raids destroyed nearly half the city in 1945. Present-day Yokohama is at the heart of the Keihin Industrial Zone, which extends to Tokyo. The prefecture's other important cities are Kawasaki, Yokosuka, Fujisawa, Sagamihara, and Hiratsuka.
During the Kamakura shogunate (1185–1333), Japan's military capital was in Kamakura, along the southeastern coast. During the Edo period (1600/1603–1868), the region linked Edo (Tokyo) to the western areas of Japan. Today as a major industrial center, Kanagawa produces automobiles, steel, electric appliances, and chemicals and processes petroleum and foodstuffs. Visitors are drawn to Kamakura's historical sites and to its mammoth Buddha statue. A vacation spot popular with Tokyo residents is the Hakone region of Fuji-Hakone-Izu National Park.
Further Reading
"Kanagawa Prefecture." (1993) Japan: An Illustrated Encyclopedia. Tokyo: Kodansha.
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