Located adjacent to Tokyo, the Kawasaki Coastal Industrial District, has a number of massive steel and petrochemical factories accumulated on reclaimed land and forms an industrial district characterized by Japan's largest heavy chemical industry. with a number of factories being connected by pipe line to the Ethylene Center at the core, this district has been characterized as a typical “Konbinat” where production activities are integrally carried out. It has also been regarded as a nucleus of the metropolitan industrial region centering about Tokyo.
However, investigations made of the industrial activities show no linkage indispensable for the operation of the factories connected by pipe line. Taking the system of the petrochemical industries surrounding the Ethylene Center, there is no integral organization nor one single control system observed, and the factories are vigorously competing with each other. This industrial district is formed by independently participating factories of enterprises belonging to different capital groups, and the linkage between these factories is weak. Therefore, it is incorrect to regard this district as a “konbinat”. Also, the Kawasaki Coastal Industial District functions only as a terminal for the supply of materials to the Metropolitan Industrial Region centering around Tokyo, with the coastal location as a common condition and is, therefore, not the nucleus of the region.