Tōhoku

Tōhoku region in Japan

The Tōhoku region ( Japanese 東北地方 , Tōhoku-chihō ) is located on the island of Honshū , the largest island in Japan. Tōhoku is relatively sparsely populated with few large cities. There are many hot springs in the mountains. The coast consists mainly of rocky coastline. The Ezo used to live here . In Japanese , Tōhoku means "the northeast."

On March 11, 2011, the largest earthquake in the history of Japan and a subsequent tsunami destroyed large parts of the coastal region in the northeast and led to the nuclear disaster in Fukushima .

geography

The Tōhoku region and Hokkaido as seen from space

The Tōhoku region is in the north of Honshu. Its western side is on the Sea of Japan , the eastern side on the Pacific . It is mountainous , especially in the central part. There are some levels by the sea on which the most important cities are located.

The climate is different in the west and east. In the east it is relatively mild, in the west it is cooler with a lot of snow in winter.

Prefectures

The region consists of six prefectures , which together have an area of 66,889.55 km² and around 9.3 million inhabitants (as of February 1, 2011).

The largest city in Tōhoku is Sendai , the capital of Miyagi.

economy

Tōhoku is mainly used for agriculture. The main products are rice and fruits. Fishing is also an important industry.

Even before the Tōhoku disaster of March 11, 2011, Tōhoku was already a marginalized region with the chronic problems of a shrinking economy and an aging population.

Attractions

Matsushima

The most famous sight are the " pine islands " near Matsushima , twenty-two kilometers northeast of Sendai, one of the three most beautiful landscapes in Japan .

literature

Christine Liew , Aya Puster: Tohoku Daisuki I: Geography in Japanese for beginners . Puster, 2008. ISBN 978-3-9811583-4-2 .
Hans-Christian Schink : Tōhoku , de / en / jp. Hatje Cantz, Ostfildern 2013, ISBN 978-3-7757-3548-3 .

Individual evidence

^ Reiko Hasegawa: Disaster Evacuation from Japan's 2011 Tsunami Disaster and the Fukushima Nuclear Accident . In: Studies . No. 5 , 2013, ISSN 2258-7535 , p. 1-54 . (Institut du développement durable et des relations internationales, IDDRI).

Web links

Commons : Tōhoku - collection of images, videos and audio files

38.9 140.68333333333Coordinates: 38 ° 54 ′ 0 ″ N , 140 ° 41 ′ 0 ″ E

[Hasegawa2013_IDDRI_Studies_5_1-54-1] Reiko Hasegawa: Disaster Evacuation from Japan's 2011 Tsunami Disaster and the Fukushima Nuclear Accident . In: Studies . No. 5 , 2013, ISSN 2258-7535 , p. 1-54 . (Institut du développement durable et des relations internationales, IDDRI).