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Japan Kinki
The Kinki region lies to the west of Tokai and consists
of
seven prefectures forming a comparatively narrow area of
Honshu,
stretching from the Sea of Japan on the north to the
Pacific Ocean
on the south. It includes Japan's second largest
industrialcommercial complex, centered on Osaka and Kobe, and the
two former
capital cities of Nara and Kyoto, seats of the imperial
family from
the early eighth century A.D. until the Meiji Restoration
in 1868
(see The Meiji Restoration
, ch. 1). The area is rich in
imperial
and cultural history and attracts many Japanese and
foreign
tourists.
The Osaka Plain is the site of Osaka, Kobe, and a
number of
intermediate-sized industrial cities, which together form
the
Hanshin commercial-industrial complex. Since the 1980s,
the suburbs
of Osaka have been given over to farming, including
vegetables,
dairy farming, poultry raising, and rice cultivation.
These areas
were progressively reduced as the cities expanded and
residential
areas, including numerous so-called "new cities," were
built, such
as the developments north of Osaka resulting from the
Osaka
International Exposition (Expo '70) world's fair.
Data as of January 1994
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