Префектура Токусима: География, История и Экономика

Prefecture of Japan

Tokushima Prefecture (徳島県) is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Shikoku. Tokushima Prefecture has a population of 728,633 (1 October 2019) and has a geographic area of 4,146 km2 (1,601 sq mi). Tokushima Prefecture borders Kagawa Prefecture to the north, Ehime Prefecture to the west, and Kōchi Prefecture to the southwest. Tokushima is the capital and largest city of Tokushima Prefecture, with other major cities including Anan, Naruto, and Yoshinogawa. Tokushima Prefecture is located on the Kii Channel, connecting the Pacific Ocean and Seto Inland Sea, across from Wakayama Prefecture on the Kii Peninsula of the island of Honshu. Tokushima Prefecture is connected to Awaji Island across the Naruto Strait by the Ōnaruto Bridge as part of the Kobe Awaji Naruto Expressway, connecting the prefecture to the city of Kobe and the San'yō Expressway on Honshu.

Until the Meiji Restoration, Tokushima Prefecture was known as Awa Province.

In ancient times, Tokushima City belonged to a region known as Myōdō gun. In the first wave of government consolidation following the abolishment of the fiefdom system and construction of prefectures in 1871, it became known as Myodo Prefecture. At the time, it included the Awa region to the south and the Awaji Island regions as well. In 1873 it further incorporated the region currently occupied by Kagawa Prefecture in its borders. In the second wave of government consolidation, on September 5, 1875, the Sanuki Region separated to form the modern day Kagawa Prefecture. On August 21, 1876, Awaji Island separated to join Hyōgo Prefecture and the Awa region separated to form Kochi Prefecture. On March 2, 1880, Myodo Prefecture fully separated from Kochi Prefecture to be inaugurated as Tokushima Prefecture.

The Sanuki Mountains run along the northern border of the prefecture. As of April 1, 2012, 9% of the total land area of the prefecture was designated as Natural Parks, namely the Setonaikai National Park; Muroto Anan Kaigan and Tsurugisan Quasi National Parks; and Chūbu Sankei, Dochū Kōtsu, Hashikura, Higashi Sankei, Okumiyagawa Uchidani, and Ōasayama Prefectural Natural Parks.

Tokushima depends on agriculture, forestry and fisheries. The percentage of agricultural workers and productivity is the second largest in Shikoku next to Kochi. Rice fields occupy the lower region of the Yoshino River and the small, narrow plains along the shore. Much of the remaining land is used for vegetables and flowers. The prefecture is the nation's largest supplier of cauliflower and lotus roots, and the fourth largest producer of carrots. Japanese indigo is only produced here. Northern Tokushima's growth was accelerated by the completion of the Akashi Channel Bridge, which completes the road connection from Tokushima to Kobe. Industrial development continues around the Tokushima and Naruto districts. In particular, Itano District's Aizumi Town and Kitajima Town have experienced rapid growth, which has led to a proposed merger of the towns of Itano District into Itano City in the future. In April 2023 a school of tech entrepreneurship the first of its kind in Japan was opened in the Tokushima town of Kamiyama. The students, aged from 15 to 20, will be taught engineering, programming and designing, as well as business skills such as marketing. They will also learn how to pitch their business plans to investors in order to raise money. The man behind it is Chikahiro Terada, the boss of Tokyo based start up Sansan, which specialises in the digitalisation of business cards. These still play a huge role in Japan's corporate world.

Tokushima's prefectural symbol is a stylized combination of the hiragana for to and ku, the first two characters in the hiragana spelling of the prefecture's name.