How It's Used

"Long after the industrial blight which spread over Japan during the economic miracle, Shikoku, smallest of the four main islands, has remained a charming, tranquil place. Thatched wooden farm houses were still built in the traditional way and Buddhists in white robes and straw hats still made the pilgrimage around the 88 temples. But yesterday that era came to an abrupt end.

"The occasion was the opening of the Akashi Kaikyo bridge, the longest suspension bridge in the world, and proofthat Japan's economy has plenty of puff left. The bridge, started 10 years ago, is superlative in every respect. It has been built to withstand 180mph winds and earthquakes as big as 8.5 on the Richter scale. When nearby Kobe was struck by an earthquake three years ago, the foundations were not damaged. More than two million people have worked on it and the distance between its two massive towers is 6,750ft - 2,000ft longer than the Humber estuary bridge. The total cost was about $3.7bn (£2.3bn)."

—Richard Lloyd Parry, "Record bridge threatens Japan's emerald isle," The Independent (UK), April 6, 1998.

"The museum is the dream of Masahito Otsuka, 81, one of the richest men in Asia. Otsuka was born here in Naruto, a town 300 miles southwest of Tokyo, on the coast of Shikoku, the smallest of Japan's four main islands."

—Kevin Sullivan, "Masterpieces With a Common Touch: Fabulous Fakes Bring Taste of West to Japan," The Washington Post, April 15, 1998, p. D01.

"Will Ferguson, on the other hand, seeks primarily not to instruct but to entertain. Thumbing his way northward through the length of Japan's four main islands, he demonstrates a plucky willingness to submerge himself in the vicissitudes of daily life; we ultimately learn a great deal more from Ferguson about Japanese foibles than we do in Taylor's little lessons."

—Richard Perry, "Japan: the high road and the low," The Globe and Mail, January 30, 1999, p. D15.

“Indeed, Yokohama, with 3.5 million people, appears slack compared with Kamikatsu, a town of 2,200 in the mountains of Shikoku, the smallest of Japan's four main islands. Not content with the 34 trash categories it defined four years ago as part of a major push to reduce waste, Kamikatsu has gradually raised the number to 44.”

—Norimitsu Onishi, “How Do Japanese Dump Trash?  Let Us Count the Myriad Ways,” The New York Times, May 12, 2005.

"The storm was packing gusts of up to 216 kilometres (134 miles) an hour, moving south of Shikoku, one of Japan's four main islands, late Wednesday, the agency reported."

—Shingo Ito, "Japan on alert as powerful typhoon approaches," Agence France Presse, October 7, 2009.

Links

Related on eAlmanac
Shikoku, Japan
Kyushu, Japan

Beyond eAlmanac
Wikipedia article on the Geography of Japan