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Fukushima
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The Naka-dori region is centrally located in the prefecture and comprises five cities, 28 townships and 14 villages. The area includes the prefectural capital of Fukushima City, Koriyama - a key transportation point - and Shirakawa, the gateway to Tokyo. With 5,366 square kilometers, the region accounts for 39% of the prefecture's to total land area.
Naka-dori's main cities are connected with Tokyo by two transportation arteries running north to south - the Tohoku Shinkansen and the Tohoku Expressway - and Tokyo can be reached in 60 to 90 minutes by Shinkansen. The Ban'etsu Expressway, now under construction, connects Koriyama with Iwaki on the Pacific Ocean and Niigata City on the Sea of Japan. Fukushima Airport connects the prefecture with major Japanese cities outside the prefecture and with foreign countries. Accordingly, the region - which is also the center of the prefecture's economic and cultural activities - is a key transportation zone linking Tokyo and the Tohoku region as well as cities inside and outside Fukushima.
Currently, over-concentration of the nation's political and business activity in Tokyo is attracting attention as a serious problem. As ways are sought to address this problem - for example, by decentralizing the national government's operations - the Naka-dori region anticipates playing an important role in helping to reshape the nation in the 21st century.
Nature
The Naka-dori region, hemmed in by the Abukuma mountains to the east and the Ou mountain range to the west, is a lowland with the Abukuma River coursing through its middle from south to north. The mountains surrounding Naka-dori, especially such areas as the Abukuma Plateau and the Kashi Highland, display the ideal features of the four seasons. Against the backdrop of the Azuma peaks in the Ou mountains lies the Fukushima Basin, which contains countless rice fields and orchards. In spring, beautiful peach and pear blossoms appear, while the snow can be seen to linger in the mountains. There are also numerous hot springs which provide visitors with enjoyment year-round.
The environs of Fukushima City, in the northern part of the Naka-dori region, see the earliest flowering of the treasured cherry blossoms in the region, with the area of bloom moving southward. In summer, the weather in and around Fukushima City is quite humid, and summer temperatures in the city are among the most severe in the nation.
Industry
The region's two main cities are Fukushima. the prefectural capital, in the north, and Koriyama, in the center. The former is the wellspring of politics and culture, while the latter, more centrally located, has developed as the base of commerce and industry.
As a result of the development of the rapid transportation network, including Fukushima Airport, other major cities in the prefecture are vigorously promoting industrial development, and the prefecture has become an industrial as well as agricultural center. The growth has positioned the area in and around Koriyama as a "technopolis," expected to lead the prefecture's industry into the 21st century. Accordingly, the integration of numerous research and development facilities, many of which concentrate on the highly important software industry, has been vigorously undertaken and several such facilities are currently under development.
Enjoying four distinct seasons and blessed with a varied geography ranging from lowlands to highlands, the Naka-dori region remains a vital agricultural center. It grows a variety of produce such as vegetables in the south and fruit in the north and ranks among the nation's top producers of these products. Also worthy of note is the region's sericulture industry, a traditional industry in the prefecture which is centered in the north and in 1993 led the nation in silk production.
Koriyama "Technopolis" Development Project
This project seeks to create a municipality that enjoys a harmonious combination of industrial, educational, residential and leisure facilities, with Koriyama, the prefecture's key transportation hub, as the core. The area will guide the continuing development of high-tech industry and spur Fukushima's growth into the 21st century as a "techno-prefecture."
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