| The Chubu (Central district is in the center of Honshu Island
and is its widest district. It does not represent any particular
political, economic or industrial boundary. It is sometimes called
the Kanto Koshin'etsu Block, or the Tokai district if Mie prefecture
is included. It is extremely hard to describe this district briefly
due to its vast area and different land features. Plains and mountains;
metropolitan areas around Nagoya and the mountain farming villages
of the Chukyo area; the Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Japan. There
is a striking contrast between the Tokaido Belt area and the three
Hokuriku prefectures which face the Sea of Japan. |
These three prefectures have less than 150 churches, with only
6,351 Christians. On the other hand, the Shizuoka and Aichi prefectures
on the Pacific side have 534 churches, with 31,495 Christians.
These statistics are deceiving, because Aichi has more churches
per population than Ishikawa but less than Toyama. Shizuoka has
a slightly higher number of churches per population than the national
average. Aichi has been experiencing a rapid population growth
in all its cities but one, creating a great need for new churches.
Twelve of Aichi's towns with a population of 20,000 or more do
not have churches, the most for any prefecture. |