Chubu Region (Hokuriku/Tokai)

This chapter presents characteristics of soils of the Chubu region, which encompasses between the Sea of Japan and the Pacific Ocean in the middle of Honshu. In the region, there is Mt. Fuji, the active volcano and the highest mountain in Japan. Not only that, the geology of the region is diverse. The region has several mountain ranges, diverse climates and vegetation. So, you can see a lot of different type of soils in the region. In this chapter, we will first give an overview of the soil formation factors and the existing soils in the region. The chapter then describes the agriculture and forestry for the three distinct regions of the Chubu region. The northern part of the Chubu region, called Hokuriku, centers on paddy production on wet and clayey soil by virtue of snow-meltwater and summer high temperature. For the central part of the Chubu region consisting of highland, the sustainable soil management for forestry is described. As for the southern part of the Chubu region, Tokai, characteristics of agriculture for cultivation of vegetables and tea on mainly Red-Yellow soil under mild climate are described, including efforts toward effective use of fertilizers.