Osaka textile industry

in 1921 there were 87,398 factories with more than five workers; 71,321 used machines, the rest were hand manufacturing. In 1926, there were 51,906 factories with 1,875,000 employees growing in productivity with reduced employees due to mechanisation. The zone extended from the interior sea (Japanese Mediterranean sea) to the Kwanto Plain, being the industrial heart of Japan. From Nagasaki and Hiroshima to Tokyo was 600 miles with a series of industrial cities: the region of Osaka-Kobe-Kioto, the axis TokyoYokohama, Nagoya and Nagasaki, Hiroshima, Shimonoseki and Moji in North Kysh. The Osaka-Kobe-Kioto region makes traditional products, iron and steel, and others. The axis Tokyo-Yokohama manufactured machinery, electrical devices, printing, iron and steel works, and others various factories. Nagoya center poses hilatures and fiber factories and porcelain; the North Kysh centers produced high ovens, iron and steel works, iron laminations, shipyards, cement and crystal factories, coal coke processors etc. Additional to these centers were others in Kamaishi (North Honsh) for making iron bars, and Muroran (Hokkaido) similarly. The iron & steel industry was unique in that it produced twice more converter steel than bars of high ovens because of more use of scrap iron and old iron imported from overseas. Other important centers were Heijo (Chosen) for Iron and Steel works, in Karafuto for Cellulose (paper raw material) manufacturing; Kwantung, for Iron & Steel Works (Anshan factory), in Formosa (Camphor and sugar cane processing) and South Mandate for Sugar cane processing. The fishing industry (the most extensive in coastal areas in all the Japanese empire), employed 1,500,000 persons (including 500,000 women and children). The "cultivated pearl" industry was centred in Toba (Shima area, in Ago Bay) where the Mikimoto Zaibatsu Clan held a monopoly. For military industry, see the additional information. In 1927 and 1937, industrial production remained at 16,412,000,000, which represented three times the value of farming. The textile industry fell from 41.4% in 1926 to 23.8% in 1936; metallurgical industries 6.4% in 1926 to 20.5% in 1936, and the chemical industry 18.6% in 1937 and machinery and industrial equipments growing to 14.5% in the same year. Japan's treaties with Germany provided licenses for installing certain heavy industry technologies. The result of these agreements, were the following factories
The Columbia Encyclopedia. Osaka , city (1990 pop. 2,623,801), capital of Osaka prefecture, S Honshu, Japan, on Osaka Bay, at the mouth of the Yodo River. One of Japan's largest cities and principal industrial and commercial centers, Osaka is the focal point of a chain of industrial cities (called the Hanshin or Kinki ) stretching to Kobe, an alternate port for Osaka. Machinery, electrical machinery, iron and steel, metals, textiles, chemicals, food processing, and printing are among the chief industries. The city is also a major port, transportation hub, and financial and media center; a new international airport opened in 1992 on an artificial island in Osaka Bay. A cultural and educational center, Osaka is known for its puppet and other theaters and for Osaka and Kansai universities. Its parks and gardens are noted for their beauty. Landmarks include the Buddhist temple of Shitennoji, founded in 593, and Temmangu, a Shinto shrine founded in 949. As Naniwa, the city was the site of imperial palaces as early as the 4th cent. Its importance as a

commercial center dates from the 16th cent., when it became Hideyoshi's seat and grew to be Japan's leading trade center. Hideyoshi's huge castle, reconstructed in 1931, still dominates the city. Osaka prefecture (1990 pop. 8,542,624), c.700 sq mi (1,810 sq km), has a rugged interior and a flat and fertile coast. Its main products are iron, steel, textiles, chemicals, and electric machinery. .