Japan: Century 21 - Dragons and Tigers: A Geography of South, East and Southeast Asia - page 352

terrain. Similarly , Japan has the world' s highest density of
dams, which it continues to build even as other countries
dismantle some of theirs for sound environmental
reasons. Moreover, there is hardly a free-flowing river in
the country , as almost all have been reconfigured and
realigned in concrete by various kinds of flood control
projects. In small towns, where employment is lacking,
project funding has been halved in light of the recent
economic crisis.

industry as one with great potential. As incomes rose,
the domestic market expanded. At the same time,
there was a growing market in Europe, where people
were demanding small, well-developed, fuel-efficient
cars. The industry took off and has reached the point
where one-tenth of Japan' is workforce is now in car
manufacturing.
There is a trend in the worldwide auto industry to
integrate national production, thereby making autos
international entities. For example, T Toyota, Nissan, and
Honda manufacture vehicles and parts in China. As of
2000, T Toyota had invested more than US$10 million in
18 facilities in the United States that employ more than
27,000 workers. The Camry , for instance, is produced in
Kentucky . In fact, more than 63 percent of T Toyotas sold
in the United States are made somewhere in North
America. The “Big Five” are making big profits on over-
seas sales.
In the recent economic downturn, vehicle produc-
tion has slowed. This is, in part, because of a decrease in
Japan' s domestic market. China took over Japan' s spot as
the world' s largest vehicle manufacturer in 2009.

Ashio's Declining Fortunes

A town that is representative of Japan' is economic
woes is Ashio, a once prosperous copper mining
center in the mountains of Honshu north of T Tokyo.
As mining declined over much of the twentieth cen-
tury because of cheaper copper from other sources
and depletion of the richest ores, the town faced a
problem of unemployment and uncertainty about its
future. Population dropped from a peak of nearly
40,000 around 1915 to less than 5,000 today , as resi-
dents relocated to T Tokyo and other cities for jobs,
and young people moved away soon after finishing
high school because of a lack of opportunities.
The proposed solution for the stagnation was
to open Ashio for tourism. Government economic
development funds helped with the construction
of a museum about copper mining, as well as with
construction of new roads and bridges to make the
town less isolated. Unfortunately , the planners over-
estimated the number of people who would travel
out of their way , even by improved roads, to learn
details about copper. The museum and souvenir
stands have few visitors and Ashio remains another
depressed town in Japan' s countryside.

HIGH-TECH REVOLUTION
Even in times of economic crisis, Japan is furthering its
high-tech revolution, which began in the post-war years.
It is turning to unexpected ways to harness technology
and cater to the ever-picky Japanese consumer.
High-tech factories have been built throughout the
country (Figure 12-10) in part to disperse populations of
overcrowded metropolitan regions such as T Tokyo and
Osaka. High-tech industries are knowledge-intensive
and focus on such things as microelectronics, semicon-
ductors, medical and aerospace technologies, and com-
munication systems. Integrated circuits (microchips and
silicon chips) comprise the core of production for every-
thing from microwaves to advanced weaponry . Many of
these are manufactured by Fujitsu, Hitachi, and NEC
corporations.
The Japanese love gadgets. Sharp has invented a
microwave that automatically cooks recipes off the
internet. It also offers an 18-minute washing machine
that washes people instead of clothes. Also, what about
a GPS that people can use to track the whereabouts of
their children or elderly parents? Japan is the “gadget-
king,” and as geographer Pradyumna Karan observes:
“There is no country like Japan when it comes to fus-
ing and cross-fertilizing technologies to create some-
thing new .”

JAPAN'S AUTO INDUSTRY
Vehicles are Japan' s largest export product, with more
than 7 million being exported in 2004. The “Big Five”
(T (Toyota, Honda, Mitsubishi, Nissan, and Mazda) account
for about 80 percent of the 9 to 10 million vehicles pro-
duced each year.
The industry had a slow start with a small domes-
tic market. Moreover, there was competition with U.S.
companies producing cars in Japan in the 1920s and
1930s. In the 1950s, the government targeted the car