12 N- Yamasaki 



iudustry. The forests of Akita are especially noted for beautiful 

 cryptonieria trees. The apples of Aomori and the cherries of Yaniaga- 

 ta and Fukushima are also very remarkable productions of this 

 district. 



h. Kwanto : — The plain of Kwanto, the largest in tlie country, 

 stretches between the Kwanto Mountains and the Pacific Ocean. On the 

 south it extends as far as the two hilly peninsulas, Boso (Awa-Kadzusa) 

 and Miura, which enclose the shallow bay of Tokyo, an outshoot of 

 the Pacific. The plain is gently undulating, partly of Tertiary 

 formation, but mostly covered by later deposits. These hills and the 

 neighbouring mountains are groups of tilted blocks of land. The 

 great earthquake of 1923 was also nothing but a repetition of the 

 blocking movement which took place in those peninsulas and especial- 

 ly in the bottom of the Bay of Sagami. The plain is drained by 

 many streams, of which Tone is the most noted. Lakes and lagoons 

 are numerous, and Kasumi-ga-ura near the mouth of the Tone is 

 the second greatest lake of Japan. The I'lain is well cultivated 

 and very densely populated. There are moi-e than eighty cities and 

 towns with populations of over 10,000. Tokyo, the capital of Japan, 

 is situated on the mouth of the River Sumida, which flows into the 

 Bay of Tokyo. Not only is it a political centre in this country it is 

 also a centre of science and industry. The population of the city 

 with that of the suburbs amounts to more than two million. At a 

 distance of only 30 km. from the capital is the seaport of Yokohama, 

 the greatest in the country and a little to the south is Yokosuka, 

 one of the naval ports. Many towns in the northern part of the plain 

 are noted for their flourishing silk industry. 



c. Central Honshu : — In the central part of Honshu, where the 

 two great mountain systems coalesce, lies a zone of great tectonic 

 depression, which is represented by the valley of Chikuma-gawa on 

 the east, and those of Fuji-kawa and Kamanashi-gawa and the low- 

 lands of Matsumoto-daira extending to the fault valley of Hime-kawa, 

 which ends near the town of Itoigawa on the coast of the Sea of Japan, 

 on the west. Along this zone runs the volcanic chain of Fuji and 

 many cones stand as boundary posts separating the two topographical 

 districts of northern and southern Japan. The chain originates in 

 the far south in the Mariana Islands in the Pacific Ocean ; and running 

 north through the Volcano Islands (Iwo-jima) and Shichito Islands, it 

 reaches the peninsula of Idzu on the south coast of Honshu. Several 



