, also known as the Keiyō Industrial Region, the Keiyō Industrial Area, or the Keiyō Industrial Belt, is an industrial zone on the northeastern coast of

Tokyo Bay is a bay located in the southern Kantō region of Japan spanning the coasts of Tokyo, Kanagawa Prefecture, and Chiba Prefecture, on the southern coast of the island of Honshu. Tokyo Bay is connected to the Pacific Ocean by the Uraga Channel. Th ...

that crosses 8 cities in

Chiba Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Chiba Prefecture has a population of 6,278,060 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of . Chiba Prefecture borders Ibaraki Prefecture to the north, Saitama ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. The zone spans from the western part of

Urayasu 260px, Old Urayasu is a city located in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 170,533 in 81,136 households and a population density of . The total area of the city is . Urayasu is best known as the home of Tokyo Dis ...

in the northeast to

Futtsu file:富津市役所.jpg, 260px, Futtsu City Hall is a Cities of Japan, city located in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 42,476 in 18,115 households and a population density of 210 persons per km2. The total are ...

in the southeast of the region. The zone has no political or administrative status.

Etymology

The name of the industrial zone is formed from two

kanji are logographic Chinese characters, adapted from Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script, used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese and are ...

characters. The first, , means "

capital city A capital city, or just capital, is the municipality holding primary status in a country, state (polity), state, province, department (administrative division), department, or other administrative division, subnational division, usually as its ...

" and refers to Tokyo. The second, , meaning "

leaf A leaf (: leaves) is a principal appendage of the plant stem, stem of a vascular plant, usually borne laterally above ground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leav ...

", is the second kanji in "Chiba" and refers to Chiba Prefecture, and the compound refers to the Tokyo-Chiba region.

Geography

The Keiyō Industrial Zone spans the coast of Tokyo Bay from Urayasu in the northeast, through

Funabashi is a Cities of Japan, city located in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 644,668 in 309,238 households and a population density of . The total area of the city is . It is the Greater Tokyo Area's 7th most populat ...

, Chiba City, Kisarazu,

Kimitsu is a Cities of Japan, city located in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 83,058 in 39,138 households and a population density of 260 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . Overview The area along Tokyo ...

, Ichihara, Sodegaura, and ends in

to the southeast. Numerous small rivers empty into the industrial region, and provide a source of water to support industry. They include the

Edo River The is a river in the Kantō region of Japan. It splits from the Tone River at the northernmost tip of Noda City in the Sekiyado district, crosses through Nagareyama and Matsudo, and empties into Tokyo Bay at Ichikawa, Chiba Prefecture. The E ...

, the Yōrō River, and the Koito River.

History

Before industrialization the Keiyō region was originally home to ''

nori Nori is a dried edible seaweed used in Japanese cuisine, usually made from species of the red algae genus ''Pyropia'', including ''P. yezoensis'' and ''Pyropia tenera, P. tenera''. It has a strong and distinctive flavor, and is generally made in ...

seaweed Seaweed, or macroalgae, refers to thousands of species of macroscopic, multicellular, marine algae. The term includes some types of ''Rhodophyta'' (red), '' Phaeophyta'' (brown) and ''Chlorophyta'' (green) macroalgae. Seaweed species such as ...

collection, the

shellfish Shellfish, in colloquial and fisheries usage, are exoskeleton-bearing Aquatic animal, aquatic invertebrates used as Human food, food, including various species of Mollusca, molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms. Although most kinds of shellfish ...

industry, mixed small-scale fishing and agricultural villages, and beach resorts. The

Keihin region The consists of the Japan, Japanese Cities of Japan, cities Tokyo, Kawasaki City, Kawasaki, and Yokohama. The term is mostly used to describe these cities as Megalopolis (city type), one industrial region. ''Keihin'' is Japanese abbreviation, de ...

, spanning west from Tokyo to

Yokohama is the List of cities in Japan, second-largest city in Japan by population as well as by area, and the country's most populous Municipalities of Japan, municipality. It is the capital and most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a popu ...

, was developed after

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. With the rapid development of the defense industry in Japan from the beginning of the

Shōwa period Shōwa most commonly refers to: * Hirohito (1901–1989), the 124th Emperor of Japan, known posthumously as Emperor Shōwa ** Shōwa era (昭和), the era of Hirohito from 1926 to 1989 * Showa Corporation, a Japanese suspension and shock manufactu ...

in 1926, a plan for the

decentralization Decentralization or decentralisation is the process by which the activities of an organization, particularly those related to planning and decision-making, are distributed or delegated away from a central, authoritative location or group and gi ...

of industry from the immediate Tokyo area was planned in 1935. The Keiyō Industrial Region was fully developed after

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Some

land reclamation Land reclamation, often known as reclamation, and also known as land fill (not to be confused with a waste landfill), is the process of creating new Terrestrial ecoregion, land from oceans, list of seas, seas, Stream bed, riverbeds or lake ...

had been carried out in coastal areas of Tokyo Bay as part of the industrialization of Japan in the early 20th century. Reclaimed land areas replaced traditional fishing areas and supported small factories. The construction of the Kawasaki

Steel Works A steel mill or steelworks is an industrial plant for the manufacture of steel. It may be an integrated steel works carrying out all steps of steelmaking from smelting iron ore to rolled product, but may also be a plant where steel semi-fini ...

in Chiba City in 1953 marked the beginning of the large-scale construction of

heavy industry Heavy industry is an industry that involves one or more characteristics such as large and heavy products; large and heavy equipment and facilities (such as heavy equipment, large machine tools, huge buildings and large-scale infrastructure); o ...

infrastructure in the industrial zone, and other industries soon followed. The

deepwater port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Hamburg, Manche ...

s of the Keiyō Industrial Zone were built starting in the 1950s. Thermal power generators were built, and large tracts of land were reclaimed from the bay for expansion of the Keiyō region. Keiyō was significantly expanded in the 1960s. Heavy metal and chemical production were among the highest in Japan by the 1970s.

Industries

The zone is a major base for the

electric power generation Electricity generation is the process of generating electric power from sources of primary energy. For utilities in the electric power industry, it is the stage prior to its delivery ( transmission, distribution, etc.) to end users or its stor ...

petrochemical Petrochemicals (sometimes abbreviated as petchems) are the chemical products obtained from petroleum by refining. Some chemical compounds made from petroleum are also obtained from other fossil fuels, such as coal or natural gas, or renewable s ...

petroleum Petroleum, also known as crude oil or simply oil, is a naturally occurring, yellowish-black liquid chemical mixture found in geological formations, consisting mainly of hydrocarbons. The term ''petroleum'' refers both to naturally occurring un ...

shipbuilding Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and other Watercraft, floating vessels. In modern times, it normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation th ...

logistics Logistics is the part of supply chain management that deals with the efficient forward and reverse flow of goods, services, and related information from the point of origin to the Consumption (economics), point of consumption according to the ...

shipping Freight transport, also referred to as freight forwarding, is the physical process of transporting commodities and merchandise goods and cargo. The term shipping originally referred to transport by sea but in American English, it has been ...

, and

steel Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon that demonstrates improved mechanical properties compared to the pure form of iron. Due to steel's high Young's modulus, elastic modulus, Yield (engineering), yield strength, Fracture, fracture strength a ...

industries. The

Port of Chiba The is the largest seaport in Japan, located in Chiba Prefecture on the interior of Tokyo Bay. The Port spans across the cities of Ichikawa, Chiba, Ichikawa, Funabashi, Chiba, Funabashi, Narashino, Chiba, Narashino, Chiba, Chiba, Chiba, Ichihara ...

is a major component to the Keiyō Industrial Region.

Gallery

File:Yōrō River and Port of Chiba 01.jpg, Yōrō River and Port of Chiba File:View from Chiba Port-Tower East.jpg, View from Chiba Port Tower

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Keiyo Industrial Zone Industry in Japan High-technology business districts Kantō region Geography of Chiba Prefecture Chiba (city)