Metropolitan area

A metropolitan area, sometimes referred to as a metropolitan area, metro area or just metro, is a region consisting of a densely populated urban core and its less-populated surrounding territories, sharing industry, infrastructure, and housing. A metro area usually comprises multiple jurisdictions and municipalities: neighborhoods, townships, cities, exurbs, suburbs, counties, districts, states, and even nations like the eurodistricts. As social, economic and political institutions have changed, metropolitan areas have become key economic and political regions. Metropolitan areas include one or more urban areas, as well as satellite cities, towns and intervening rural areas that are socio-economically tied to the urban core, typically measured by commuting patterns.

For urban centres outside metropolitan areas, that generate a similar attraction at smaller scale for their region, the concept of the regiopolis and respectively regiopolitan area or regio was introduced by German professors in 2006.

Chūkyō Metropolitan Area

Chūkyō (中京圏, Chūkyō-ken), sometimes called the Chūkyō region (中京地方 Chūkyō-chihō), is the name of a major metropolitan area in Japan that is centered on the city of Nagoya in Aichi Prefecture. The area makes up the most urban part of the Tōkai region. The population (as of 2010) of 9,107,414 over an area of 7,072 square kilometers.

It is among the 50 most populous metropolitan areas in the world and is Japan's third most populous metropolitan area after the Greater Tokyo Area and Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto, containing roughly 7% of Japan's population. Historically, this region has taken a back seat to the other two power centers, both politically and economically; however, the agglomeration of Nagoya is the 22nd largest economy, in terms of gross metropolitan product at purchasing power parity (PPP), in 2014 according to a study by the Brookings Institution.

Municipalities

The metropolitan area stretches beyond the central city of Nagoya to other municipalities in Aichi Prefecture, as well as neighboring Gifu and Mie prefectures.

Aichi Prefecture

Aichi Prefecture (愛知県, Aichi-ken) is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region. The region of Aichi is also known as the Tōkai region. The capital is Nagoya. It is the focus of the Chūkyō Metropolitan Area.

History

Originally, the region was divided into the two provinces of Owari and Mikawa. After the Meiji Restoration, Owari and Mikawa were united into a single entity. In 1871, after the abolition of the han system, Owari, with the exception of the Chita Peninsula, was established as Nagoya Prefecture, while Mikawa combined with the Chita Peninsula and formed Nukata Prefecture. Nagoya Prefecture was renamed to Aichi Prefecture in April 1872, and was united with Nukata Prefecture on November 27 of the same year.

The government of Aichi Prefecture is located in the Aichi Prefectural Government Office in Nagoya, which is the old capital of Owari.

The Expo 2005 World Exposition was held in Seto and Nagakute.

Etymology

In the third volume of the Man'yōshū there is a poem by Takechi Kurohito that reads: "The cry of the crane, calling to Sakurada; it sounds like the tide, draining from Ayuchi flats, hearing the crane cry". Ayuchi is the original form of the name Aichi, and the Fujimae tidal flat is all that remains of the earlier Ayuchi-gata. It is now a protected area.

Nagoya

Nagoya (名古屋市, Nagoya-shi) is the largest city in the Chūbu region of Japan. It is Japan's third-largest incorporated city and the fourth most populous urban area. It is located on the Pacific coast on central Honshu. It is the capital of Aichi Prefecture and is one of Japan's major ports along with those of Tokyo, Osaka, Kobe, Yokohama, Chiba, and Kitakyushu. It is also the center of Japan's third-largest metropolitan region, known as the Chūkyō Metropolitan Area. As of 2010, 2.27 million people lived in the city, part of Chūkyō Metropolitan Area's 9.10 million people.

History

Etymology

The city's name was historically written as 那古野 or 名護屋 (both read as Nagoya). One possible origin is the adjective nagoyaka (なごやか), meaning 'peaceful'.

The name Chūkyō (中京, consisting of chū (middle) + kyō (capital)) is also used to refer to Nagoya. Notable examples of the use of the name Chūkyō include the Chūkyō Industrial Area, Chūkyō Metropolitan Area, Chūkyō Television Broadcasting, Chukyo University and the Chukyo Racecourse.

Chūbu region

The Chūbu region (中部地方, Chūbu-chihō) is the central region of Honshū, Japan's main island. Chūbu has a population of 21,715,822 as of 2010.

Chūbu, which means "central region", encompasses nine prefectures (ken): Aichi, Fukui, Gifu, Ishikawa, Nagano, Niigata, Shizuoka, Toyama, Yamanashi, and often Mie.

It is located directly between the Kantō region and the Kansai region and includes the major city of Nagoya as well as along Pacific and Sea of Japan coastlines, extensive mountain resorts, and Mount Fuji.

The region is the widest part of Honshū and the central part is characterized by high, rugged mountains. The Japanese Alps divide the country into the Pacific side, sunny in winter, and the Sea of Japan side, snowy in winter.

Subregions

The Chūbu region covers a large and geographically diverse area of Honshū which leads to it generally being divided into three distinct subregions: Tōkai, Kōshin'etsu, and Hokuriku. There is also another subregion occasionally referred to in business circles called Chūkyō.