Japanese Industry at Home

A distinctive feature of the geography of manufacturing in Japan is the degree of regional concentration and spatial clustering it exhibits. Individual industries are concentrated in a small number of the 47 Prefectures and the industrial structure of many Prefectures is dominated by a small number of industries. At the local level many industries and their subcontractors cluster within localities. These geographical patterns are a reflection of the Japanese industrial system in which there is a core of major firms and a large number of smaller enterprises. The two are often linked in vertical near-integration with relationships which include reciprocal shareholdings and mutual obligations and responsibilities. The geographical patterns were well adapted to the rapid growth of manufacturing in Japan after 1960 but may not be appropriate for the changed conditions of the post-Fordist 1990s.