Tokyo Influences in the Manufacturing Geography of Saitama Prefecture

Abstract

* Useful background data were obtaiiied from: Hiroshi Satd, Saitama-ken kogy5 ritchi no genky5 to shlrai (Present and Future Industrial Location in Saitama Prefecture), Saitama, 1956, with accompanying atlas; Iwanami Publishing Company, Nippon no chiri (Japanese Geography), Tokyo, 1961, Vol. 3, pp. 67-114; Akira Watanabe, ed., Nippon chimei jiten (Japanese Placenamne Encyclopedia), Tokyo, 1954, Vol. 1, pp. 738-780; and Zenkoku shich6-kai (National Association of City Mayors), Nippon toshi nenkan (Municipal Yearbook of Japan), Tokyo, 1961. The principal source of industrial statistics in Saitamia Prefecture, Kogy5 tdkei-h/y5 (Industrial Statistics), is issued annually. The most recent number, which covers 1960 conditions, appeared in February, 1962. For purposes of simplicity, long marks over certain vowels have been omitted from placenames in the text. Saitama placenamies are shown in proper form in Figure 2. 1 This pattern is shown admirably on the dot map accompanying the study by John H1. Thompson and Michihiro Miyazaki, A Map of Japan's Manufacturing, Geogr. Rev., Vol. 59, 1959, pp. 1-17. The Kanto industrial zone is touched upon on pp. 9 and 12. As used in this article, Tokyo is Greater Tokyo, or the sprawling urban unit which includes the 23 wards of Tokyo proper, Kawasaki, Yokohama and contiguous areas as shown in Figure 1. The Metropolis of Tokyo is the larger prefectural-level political sub-division. which includes the 23 wards of Tokyo proper in its eastern part. most distinctive feature of the Kanto Plain case is the extraordinary size and economic versatility of Tokyo. Already the world's largest city and still growing rapidly, it is by a wide margin Japan's greatest market for foods and the full range of consumer goods. In addition, companies which have factories in the massive concentration of modern industry along the western shores of Tokyo Bay must reach beyond the confines of the city for parts and special equipment. Ill a nation where port activity and overseas trade are of exceptional importanace, Tokyo serves as headquarters for huge trading firms which can move Kanto manufactures into broad national and international trading channels. Equally important as an industrial supplier, Tokyo is Japan's money market, turns out specialized capital goods, has supplies of coal and bulky raw materials that are received through its ports, and can provide thermal electricity generated at bayside. An excellent railway system and an expanding web of modern highways facilitate the efficient arid relatively inexpensive transfer of goods between the city and hinterland points. Given this set of powerful incentives, what sort of industrial responses have they generated in interior cities and