Chugoku region

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The Chūgoku region (中国地方 Chūgoku-chihō) is located within the western region of Honshu, the largest island of Japan.

Related Topics:
Honshu - Japan

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The name literally means "Middle Country", the sole surviving relic of a historical division of Japan into "Near Countries" (近国 Kingoku), "Middle Countries" and "Far Countries" (遠国 Ongoku), based on distance from the capital Kyoto. Strictly speaking, today's Chūgoku covers only the Middle Countries along the San'indo (???) and San'yodo (???) roads. It consists of the following prefectures: Hiroshima, Yamaguchi, Shimane, Tottori. Okayama is commonly included, although only Bitchu Province was considered a Middle Country, Mimasaka Province and Bizen Province, the other two components of modern-day Okayama, were considered Near Countries.

Related Topics:
Kyoto - Hiroshima - Yamaguchi - Shimane - Tottori - Okayama - Bitchu Province - Mimasaka Province - Bizen Province

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In Japanese, the characters 中国 and the reading Chūgoku are also used to mean "China" (more precisely, People's Republic of China since Republic of China is never referred to as China but Taiwan in Japan.) The same characters are used in Chinese, but pronounced Zhōngguó.

Related Topics:
Japanese - China - People's Republic of China - Republic of China - Taiwan

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The Chugoku region is characterized by irregular rolling hills and limited plain areas and is divided into two distinct parts by mountains running east and west through its center. The northern, somewhat narrower, district is known as San'in, or "shady side of the mountain," and the southern district is known as San'yo , or "sunny side," because of the marked differences in climate. The whole Inland Sea region, including San'yo, underwent rapid development in the late twentieth century. The city of Hiroshima, rebuilt after being destroyed by the atomic bomb in 1945, is an industrial metropolis of more than 1 million people. Overfishing and pollution reduced the productivity of the Inland Sea fishing grounds, and the area concentrated on heavy industry. San'in, however, is less industrialized and relies on agriculture.

Related Topics:
Inland Sea - Hiroshima - Atomic bomb - Overfishing - Pollution - Heavy industry - Agriculture

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Kyushu region and Kinki region neighbor the Chugoku region.

Related Topics:
Kyushu region - Kinki region

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