Hyogo Prefecture is located nearly in the center of Japan, bordering on Osaka and Kyoto Prefectures on the east side, Okayama and Tottori Prefectures on the west side, and it is the only prefecture facing to three seas; the Japan Sea on the north side, Seto Inland Sea and Pacific Ocean on the south side, and to Tokushima and Wakayama Prefectures over Awaji Island lying down in Setouchi sea. The meridian, 135 degrees of east longitude representing the Japanese Standard Time, goes through from the South side, Higashiura-Cho on Awaji Island via Akashi City, Nishiwaki City and to Tanto-cho on the north side. Hyogo Prefecture consists of 29 cities, 12 towns, and the prefectural office is in Kobe City developed as the international foreign-trade port. They say it is a microcosm since the prefecture is composed of blocks having the versatile particularities of climate, culture and history. In the industrial fields, the coastal industrial zone of Hanshin and Harima makes up the manufacturing base taking very important part of logistics as it is well connected to highway network, Kobe and Osaka Seaports, and near to Kansai International Airport.

Weather of Hyogo-Kobe

Chugoku mountains penetrate Hyogo Prefecture from east to west somewhat northern side, and divide into three parts, Japan-Sea side, central mountainous region and Setouchi-Sea side. Setouchi- Sea side is with less rainfall and rather warm easy to bear through four seasons. Central mountainous region is an inland climate with considerable variation between hot and cold temperatures. Japan-Sea side, in winter, snowfall will be considerable quantity due to Siberian seasonal wind. In the south, in Kobe City, an average temperature is about 17°C, and annual precipitation is about 1,041mm, and in the north, in Toyo-oka, 14.6°C and about 2,081 mm respectively. The weather of every part compared with New York and Paris, is warmer and easier to live in.

Population of Hyogo-Kobe

The Hyogo Prefecture tops the other prefectures in the Kansai Area in terms of the number of Immigrants (Immigrants minus Migrating population), and ranked 2nd in terms of the natural population increase (Balance of birth and mortality). While a decrease in the population of the Kansai area and the entire country is expected after 2005, the population of Hyogo Prefecture will continue to increase until 2015, and the decrease thereafter is presumed insignificant. About 70 % of Hyogo’s population is occupied by people ranging from 15-64 years old, and the ratio of functional people is considerably high, especially in Hanshin Kobe area where the ratio of labors exceeds 70%. In Hyogo Prefecture, the number of household is about 2,100,000 and the population density is 666/Km², ranked 8th in all 47 prefectures in Japan, and more than 1300,000 households are residents of Hanshin Kobe area.