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A clear View of Mt. Fuji from Across the Bay Abundant Industry Embraced by the Sea and the Mountains City Streets Fragrant with Culture |
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Abundant Industry Embraced by the Sea and the Mountains |
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Most Japanese think of tea and tangerines when they hear the name Shizuoka. Tea certainly is produced all over the prefecture, and almost half of the sencha tea produced in Japan comes from Shizuoka. Very high quality tea is produced in the mountain area in the north of Numazu, and sold nationwide under the name "Yabukita-cha." Mikan tangerines are produced chiefly in the mountain areas in the south of the city, which has a long history of mikan production. According to Katsuhiro Goto of the Numazu City Hall, mikan horticulture in Numazu "has improved the quality to a high degree, creating mikan with a thick, rich flavor that has won the approval of consumers all over the nation." There are also many port towns in Shizuoka whose claim to fame is a strong fishing industry, and Numazu is numbered among these, with large catches made from Suruga Bay and nearby Pacific ocean areas. For variety and freshness, the seafood available in Numazu is among the best in Japan. And one could hardly ask for anything better than the shops and restaurants near the wharves or the fish and sushi shops in the town nearby, where fresh seafood at reasonable prices is always available. The large size of the catches brought in by local fishermen created early on a strong seafood processing industry in the surrounding area. Among the most famous of its products are dried fish such as saurel and mackerel, which tourists are almost guaranteed to purchase as gifts for friends and family at home. Though dried fish is a very simple product created merely by cutting, preserving with salt and drying, a characteristic flavor is given to the Numazu product through a special sun-drying process. But Numazu has more than just agriculture and fishery among its industries. With a large number of manufacturing plants making electrical, mechanical and other products, the city possesses a broad, well-balanced industrial base and represents a major industrial center in eastern Shizuoka Prefecture. In 1961, Numazu was successful in its bid to attract Meidensha Corporation, which chose it as the site for the construction of a 330,000 square meter electrical transformer plant. The opening of the plant was followed the establishment of facilities for a high-voltage laboratory and other purposes, and Numazu continues today to house some of Meidensha's most important plant and business facilities. The expansive land area occupied by the company is covered with trees, 5,600 of them, many of them mikan trees from which visitors to the facilities are invited to pick freely. Mitsuru Otobe, head of Meidensha's Numazu works, happily reports "there are numerous tea plants too, and during early summer many of our female employees put on tea-picker garb and harvest the leaves. They dry them to make sencha tea and present them as gifts to our visitors, who are always very happy to receive them." Meidensha's Numazu works, the largest business facilities in Numazu, provides active support to the local summer festival and city marathon, contributing to the local welfare in other ways both highly visible and in other ways, less visible. |
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