THE CHANGING CHARACTER OF THE CHUKYO INDUSTRIAL AREA

Abstract

In this article the author is concerned with the problems of recent transformations in the Chukyo industrial area, i. e., the area in and around Nagoya. In the analyses of statistical data for 1956, 1960 and 1963, the author considers as industrial those municipalities which have more than twenty-six employees per sq. km. in the manufacturing industry. The importance of heavy industry in each industrial municipality is measured by the percentage of its share in the total industrial output. The Chukyo industrial district is then divided into three areas: the heavy industrial zone, the quasi-heavy industrial zone and the light industrial zone. The heavy industrial zone, in which heavy industry represents more than 50 per cent of the total industrial products in that zone, has the southern half of Nagoya as its central part, and also covers Kariya and Toyota in the east and Kuwana and Yokkaichi in the south-west. Especially, the areas from the eastern suburbs of Nagoya to the Kariya-Toyota area are now forming a continuous industrial zone, in which the pace of industrialisation is rapid. The quasi-heavy industrial zone, in which heavy industry represents 25-30 percent of the total industrial products in that zone, covers the northern and western parts of Nagoya arriving up to Kagamihara through Inuyama in the northern direction and up to Kuwana through Kanie in the west. Most of these districts were formerly represented by the cotton industry or non-industrial activities. The function of Nagoya in the Chukyo industrial area is a central one and is quite remarkable: many kinds of materials used especially in the machinery industry of this area are supplied by large plants of the metal, machinery and chemical industries in Nagoya. The subcontractors who have close relations with Nagoya are found mainly within a radius of 40 km. from Nagoya. This limit may be considered an important criterion in deciding the geographical demarcation of the Chukyo industrial area. From 1955 to 1964, the share of industrial employees in the total population has decreased in the areas of ceramic and textile industries and increased in the area of heavy industries. This shows clearly the trends of industrialisation in the Chukyo industrial area.