Kantō region
The Kantō region is a geographical region of Honshu, the largest island of Japan. In a common definition, the region includes the Greater Tokyo Area and encompasses seven prefectures: Chiba, Gunma, Ibaraki, Kanagawa, Saitama, Tochigi, and Tokyo. Slightly more than 45 percent of the land area within its boundaries is the Kantō Plain. The rest consists of the hills and mountains that form land borders with other regions of Japan.
As the Kantō region contains Tokyo, the capital and largest city of Japan, the region is considered the center of Japan's politics and economy. According to the official census on October 1, 2010, by the Statistics Bureau of Japan, the population was 42,607,376, amounting to approximately one third of the total population of Japan.
Other definitions
The Kantō regional governors' association assembles the prefectural governors of Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma, Saitama, Chiba, Tokyo, Kanagawa, Yamanashi, Nagano, and Shizuoka.The Kantō Regional Development Bureau of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism in the national government is responsible for eight prefectures generally and parts of the waterways in two others.
The Kantō Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry is responsible for eleven prefectures: Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma, Saitama, Chiba, Tokyo, Kanagawa, Niigata, Yamanashi, Nagano and Shizuoka.
In the police organization of Japan, the National Police Agency is responsible for the Prefectural police departments of Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma, Saitama, Chiba, Kanagawa, Niigata, Yamanashi, Nagano and Shizuoka. Tokyo is not part of Kantō or any NPA region, its police has a dedicated liaison office with the national agency of its own.
Geography
The surface geology of the Kantō Plain is the Quaternary alluvium and diluvium. The low mountain vegetation at an altitude of about 500 to 900 m in and around the plain is an evergreen broad-leaved forest zone. The distribution height range of laurel forests is 900 m in Hakone, about 800 m in Tanzawa and Takao, about 700 m in Okutama, Oku Musashi and Oku Chichibu, about 600 m in Nishijoshu, Akagiyama, Ashio Mountains and Tsukuba Mountains and about 500 m in Kitage and Nasu Mountains.Over the evergreen broad-leaved forest are deciduous broad-leaved forests such as beech, birch, and Quercus crispula. In addition, coniferous forests such as Abies veitchii and Betula ermanii spread above the deciduous broad-leaved forest from an altitude of about 1100 m higher than the lower limit of the deciduous broad-leaved forest.
Mountains are spread out such as the Taishaku Mountains, Mt. Takahara, Mt. Nasu, and Mt. Yamizo. The Kantō Plain, which is the largest plain in Japan. Just north of the Enna Hills is Japan's largest alluvial fan Nasuno at the foot of Mt. The Kujukuri Plain. The southern part of Chiba Prefecture is the Boso hills. The area around Kasumigaura in Ibaraki Prefecture is the Joso plateau and Hitachi plateau. Gunma Prefecture and the Chichibu region of Saitama Prefecture are basins. Rivers such as the Arakawa and Edo rivers pour into Tokyo Bay, and the Kinugawa and Tone rivers flow into the Pacific Ocean in Inubōsaki.
Tokyo Bay is surrounded by the Boso Peninsula and the Miura Peninsula, facing the west side of Chiba Prefecture, a part of Tokyo and the east side of Kanagawa Prefecture, and borders the Pacific Ocean from Uraga Suido. The coastal area is an industrial area. The south side of Kanagawa Prefecture faces Sagami Bay and Sagami Nada. The southern coast of Ibaraki Prefecture faces Kashima Nada. The Sagami Trough, which was the epicenter of the two Kantō earthquakes, passes through Sagami Bay. Efforts are being made to take safety measures against earthquakes in various places.
The highest point is the summit of Mt. Nikko-Shirane on the border between Nikko City, Tochigi Prefecture and Katashina Village, Gunma Prefecture. It is the eighth highest point in Japan's prefectures. It is also the highest point north of Kantō. The highest points of the prefectures are Mt. Sanpo in Saitama, Mt. Kumotori in Tokyo, Mt. Hiru in Kanagawa, Mt. Yamizo in Ibaraki, and Mt. Atago in Chiba. Atagoyama in Chiba Prefecture is the lowest among the highest peaks in each prefecture.
The region experiences a humid subtropical climate with a summer to fall precipitation maximum.
History
The name Kantō literally means "East of the Barrier". The name Kantō is nowadays generally considered to mean the region east of the Hakone Barrier. The antonym of Kantō is the Kansai region meaning "West of the Barrier", which lies in western Honshu and was the center of feudal Japan.Kamakura was the political capital during the Kamakura period and it served as the seat of the Kamakura shogunate from 1185 to 1333, established by Minamoto no Yoritomo.
This was the first military government in Japan's history. Kamakura flourished until the fall of the Kamakura Shogunate, and its political functions returned to Kyoto in 1392.
In 1591, Tokugawa Ieyasu gave up control of his five provinces and moved all his soldiers and vassals to his new eight provinces in the Kantō region. The proclamation of this decision happened on the same day Toyotomi Hideyoshi, the de facto ruler of Japan at that time, entered Odawara castle following the surrender of the Hōjō clan after the Siege of Odawara. The moment Ieyasu was appointed to rule Kantō, he immediately assign his premier vassals such as Ii Naomasa, Honda Tadakatsu, Sakakibara Yasumasa, and Sakai Ietsugu, son of Sakai Tadatsugu, each to control large area of the former Hōjō clan territories in Kantō. Historian such as Kawamura saw this step was meant to bring order the newly subdued population of the area, while also guarding the eastern domains from the influence or threat from the Satomi clan which had not yet submit to the rule of Toyotomi at that time. The governors of Kantō region under Ieyasu rule:
| Province | Territory | Koku | Daimyo | Notes |
| Kōzuke Province | Minowa | 120,000 | Ii Naomasa | |
| Kōzuke Province | Tatebayashi Domain | 100,000 | Sakakibara Yasumasa | |
| Kōzuke Province | Maebashi Domain | 33,000 | Hiraiwa Chikayoshi | |
| Kōzuke Province | Shiroi Domain | 20,000 | Honda Yasushige | The total domain revenue was 33,000. However, the 13,000 of its koku revenue were controlled by the father of Yasushige instead, Honda Hirotaka. |
| Kōzuke Province | Miyazaki | 30,000 | Okudaira Nobumasa | |
| Kōzuke Province | Fujioka | 30,000 | Yoda Yasukatsu | |
| Kōzuke Province | Ogo Domain | 20,000 | Makino Yasunari | |
| Kōzuke Province | Yoshii Domain | 20,000 | Suganuma Sadatsugu | |
| Kōzuke Province | Sōja Domain | 12,000 | Suwa Yorimizu | |
| Kōzuke Province | Naba Domain | 10,000 | Matsudaira Ienobu | |
| Shimotsuke Province | Minagawa Domain | 10,000 | Minagawa Hiroteru | |
| Shimōsa Province | Yūki Domain & Tsuchiura Castle | 101,000 | Yuki Hideyasu | |
| Shimōsa Province | Yahagi Domain | 40,000 | Torii Mototada | |
| Shimōsa Province | Usui Domain | 30,000 | Sakai Ietsugu | |
| Shimōsa Province | Koga Domain | 30,000 | Ogasawara Hidemasa | |
| Shimōsa Province | Sekiyado Domain | 20,000 koku | Matsudaira Yasumoto | |
| Shimōsa Province | Yamasaki Domain | 12,000 | Okabe Nagamori | |
| Shimōsa Province | Ashido Domain | 10,000 | Kiso Yoshimasa | |
| Shimōsa Province | Moriya Domain | 10,000 | Suganuma Sadamasa | |
| Shimōsa Province | Tako Domain | 10,000 | Hoshina Masamitsu | |
| Shimōsa Province | Sakura Domain | 10,000 | Miura Shigenari | |
| Shimōsa Province | Iwatomi Domain | 10,000 | Hōjō Ujikatsu | |
| Musashi Province | Iwatsuki Domain | 20,000 | Kōriki Kiyonaga | |
| Musashi Province | Kisai Domain | 20,000 | Matsudaira Yasushige | |
| Musashi Province | Kawagoe Domain | 10,000 koku | Sakai Shigetada | |
| Musashi Province | Musashi Komuro Domain | 10,000 | Ina Tadatsugu | |
| Musashi Province | Musashi Matsuyama Domain | 10,000 | Matsudaira Iehiro | |
| Musashi Province | Oshi Domain | 10,000 | Matsudaira Ietada | |
| Musashi Province | Hanyu Domain | 20,000 | Ōkubo Tadachika | |
| Musashi Province | Fukaya Domain | 10,000 | Matsudaira Yasutada | |
| Musashi Province | Tōhō Domain | 10,000 | Matsudaira Yasunaga | |
| Musashi Province | Honjō Domain | 10,000 | Ogasawara Nobumine | |
| Musashi Province | Aho Domain | 10,000 | Suganuma Sadamitsu | |
| Musashi Province | Hachimanyama Domain | 10,000 | Matsudaira Kiyomune | |
| Kazusa Province | Ōtaki Domain | 100,000 | Honda Tadakatsu | Initially the capital of Domain were in Mangi castle |
| Kazusa Province | Kururi Domain | 30,000 | Ōsuga Tadamasa | |
| Kazusa Province | Sanuki Domain | 20,000 | Naitō Ienaga | |
| Kazusa Province | Naruto Domain | 20,000 | Ishikawa Yasumichi | |
| Sagami Province | Odawara Domain | 45,000 | Ōkubo Tadayo | |
| Sagami Province | Tamanawa Domain | 10,000 | Honda Masanobu | |
| Izu Province | Nirayama Domain | 10,000 | Naitō Nobunari |
Ieyasu established his personal new seat of power on Edo town, which at that time was an underdeveloped town in Kantō.
In the Edo period, Kantō became the center of modern development. Within the Greater Tokyo Area and especially the Tokyo-Yokohama metropolitan area, the Kantō plain houses not only Japan's seat of government but also the nation's largest group of universities and cultural institutions, the greatest population and a large industrial zone. Although most of the Kantō plain is used for residential, commercial or industrial construction, some land is still farmed. Rice is the principal crop, although the zone around Tokyo and Yokohama has been landscaped to grow garden produce for the metropolitan market.
A watershed moment of Japan's modern history took place in the late Taishō period: the Great Kantō earthquake of 1923. The quake, which claimed more than 100,000 lives and ravaged Greater Tokyo area, occurred at a time when Japan was still reeling from the economic recession in reaction to the high-flying years during World War I.
After the earthquake, many people in Kantō started creating art with different varieties of colors. They made art of earthquake and small towns to symbolize the small towns destroyed in the quake.
Operation Coronet, part of Operation Downfall, the proposed Allied invasion of Japan during World War II, was scheduled to land on the Kantō Plain.