Introduction

The Chubu Area is located in the center of Japan, and is formed by two areas: the Tokai region, consisting of the three prefectures of Aichi, Gifu and Mie; and the Hokuriku region, with Toyama, Ishikawa and Fukui prefectures.
The Chubu Area accounts for approximately 9 % of the Japanese land mass（34,151k�u）, and is home to 11% of the Japanese population（approx. 14 million） and produces 12% （approx. 58 trillion yen）of the national GDP.