English-Top > Investment Guide to Tohoku > Cover Story 2007 Rivers

Investment Guide to Tohoku

Cover Story 2007 Iwate Kitakamigawa-River

  • Aomori
  • Iwate
  • Akita
  • Miyagi
  • Yamagata
  • Fukushima
  • Niigata

The Tohoku region is blessed with some of the largest rivers in Japan. Their source, seep peacefully down the craggy mountain peaks, into mountain torrents that branch off, and eventually pour into the sea.

The rivers humidify the fertile ground, providing nourishment for the people and enabling the growth of industries.

For many years, they have been used as transportation arteries for people and goods and their scenic valleys have fascinated writers and artists alike since ancient times.

There are quite a few historical accounts of natural disasters caused by rivers, but the rulers of the time reclaimed the land and controlled the floods with engineering technology.

In comparison to western and Asian countries, Japan enjoys a resource of high quality natural water.

But most importantly, the Tohoku Region’s natural rivers contributes to the cultivation of rice and farm products as well as the creation of some of the best industries in the area.

Kitakamigawa-River

Taku Furuyama,Illustration artist

Born in 1962 in Iwate Prefecture, Taku Furuyama graduated from Tohoku Gakuin University in history at the faculty of humanities. After graduating, he worked in cartoon design, printing and advertisement. In 1994 he started his own production company: Land’s End, named after cliffs in the Strait of Dover on the south coast of England. For the past 10 years he has been painting watercolors of the various sceneries in Europe such as England, France, Portugal and Spain.