Rice is a main product of all the agricultural regions of Japan and the economic nature of its production has long been defined as “self-sufficient”. However, in accordance with economic development and population growth, the common nature of “self-sufficiency” in Japanese rice production seems to be loosening. The inter-regional supply-demand relationship of rice diverges, reflecting the regional specialization of economic activities in the progress of the national economy. It seems to represent the differentiation in the role of the paddy farming which each of the agricultural regions performs. It would be reasonable, therefore, to reconsider the nature of paddy farming for every agricultural region.
The present report intends to characterize each of the rice producing regions by pursuing its contribution to the national market of rice during the past 80 years. Three indices-supply-demand coefficient, land productivity and labourcost-productivity ratio-were calculated over the four periods of 1883-1887, 1918-1922, 1937-1941 and 1958-1962 for each of the 45 prefectures.
The shift in these indices proved to represent the regional and historical movement of paddy farming. The 45 prefectures would be grouped into the following four main types; Types A, B, C and D.
Type A……Commercial Production Region. The regions falling into this category are characterized by the rapid increase in supply coefficient, land productivity and labourcost-productivity ratio. They apparently perform the role of rice supplying area for the national market, and are seen mainly in the north-eastern part of Japan.
Type B……Subsistent Production Region. Land productivity and labourcost-productivity ratio have emerged to decrease in these regions. Supply coefficient has also decreased and reached the level of subsistent production. That is, the supply capacity of rice is not so great as before, and rice is produced mainly for the local market. In these regions, the economic activities are carried on by non-agricultural industries, and the contribution of agriculture to them is definitely limited. These regions appeared in the central and western Japan, especially in the neighbourhood of the industrial regions described below.
Type C……Big-Demand Region. These regions are represented by the extra-ordinary decrease in land-productivity and labourcost-productivity ratio, and the increase in demand coefficient. The leading industrial regions of Japan including Tokyo, Kanagawa, Aichi and Osaka belong to this category. These regions are the principal national market of rice, which is formed by the concentration of population and the rapid development of industrial activities in these regions. In the late 19th century, they had the highest level of land and labour productivity of rice.
Type D……Small-Demand Region. All of the indices have consistently remained at the relatively low level through the four periods in these regions. They are under-developed areas of agriculture characterized by the lowest productivity. The south-western part of Japan is a typical case of this category.

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The writer has investigated the distribution of camera manufacturing Industry, and inquired the geographical significance of its location in Japan. The following have been disclosed.
1. About 65% of camera production comes from Tokyo metropolis, the main part of Keihin industrial area, furthermore; 70% of its workshops are also concentrated in Tokyo, forming the core of distribution in Japan.
2. In Tokyo area, some 60% of the workshops are in Jonan district (Ota, Shinagawa, Meguro etc) southern parts of Tokyo, which is the core area of the Keihin industrial belt. And about 30% of the works are provided in the Johoku districts (Itabashi, Toshima etc), northern parts of Tokyo, being a nucleus district of binoculars production.
3. About 2, 000 kinds of parts are required to manufacture any kind of camera. Such being the case, most parts of camera are supplied from subcontact parts-makers operated on a small scale. For the convenience of concentration most of them are located in the neighborhood of the camera makers to keep production at low cost.

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Hachinohe city (pop. 185, 471) is one of the industrial cities in Tohoku, and has remarkably made progress since a cement factory had started in 1919. It has 12, 156 workers engaged in manufacturing and 30 billions yen of industrial out put in 1963. The urban area consists of the following three sections: Hachinohe (in a narrow sense), the commercial section, which was founded as a castle town in 1660; the industrial quarters of Konakano-Numadate-Kawaragi; and the fishing and trade port of Same-Shirogane-Minato.
The process of the industrial development of Hachinohe is classified into the five stages:
1. Germing stage……1937 It keeps the accent on simple processing of marine-products and lumbering.
2. Growing stage 1937……1945
a) Establishment of modern factories (chemical fertilizer, pig-iron and alcohol) 1937……1941
b) Conversion into munitions industry 1941……1945
3. Establishing stage 1945……1956
a) Restration to the pre-war standard (chemical fertilizer, cement and pig-iron 1945……1951
b) Remarkable development of food-stuff industry and iron manufacture (electric refining) 1951……1956
4. Completing stage 1956……1963
a) Development of food-stuff industry and iron-sand industry; and establishment of a thermal electric station and gas-works 1956……1958
b) Setting of integrated system of iron-sand industry (iron refinery-steel mill-rolling mill) 1958……1963
5. Modulating stage 1963……
Depression in iron and steel market; and new project of industrial city planning
On the other hand, on the basis of the distribution pattern of industrial works, Hachinohe is divided into the four areas:
1. Sa-me area Cold-strage, ice-making, lumbering and marine-products processing (canning, fodder and oils and fats)
2. Minato-Bajiri area
3. Konakano-Numadate-Kawaragi area
Iron and steel, machinery, ship construction and chemical industries
4. Hachinohe area (in a narrow sense)
Sake, bread and cakes, soft drinks, fresh milk, lumbering and publishing(ubiquitous industries)
Considering the functional relationship between industries and the vital power of industries, it should be understood that the manufacturing industry distributed in the Konakano-Numadate-Kawaragi area plays the most basic role in the industrial structure and the urban function of Hachinohe. Then, it sould be said that the “Hachinohe-industrial area” started in 1937 and established its framework in 1956, and in the decade it is changing its characters secondarily.

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