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Preface
With its vast expanse of land, Hokkaido is blessed with abundant high-quality
water, extensive farmland, fishing grounds in three oceans, and rich forest
resources accounting for almost a quarter of the total forestland in Japan.
The prefecture thus has a wealth of environmentally friendly energy resources,
such as wind, biomass and natural gas fields.
Hokkaido has contributed greatly to the stability
and development of the nation as a whole as a center for food supplies,
tourism and recreation, while capitalizing on these resources and characteristics
of the prefecture and cultivating the frontier spirit – willingness to
tackle new challenges – during the course of the history of its development
since the Meiji era.
With the recent rapid economic growth in East Asia,
problems with the global environment and energy resources, economic and
social impact of a full-scale population decrease, falling birthrates and
aging populations, the international community now stands at a major crossroads.
Amid all this, the role required of Hokkaido is to lead efforts to develop
into a sustainable economic society.
We hope that you will understand the need for projects
implemented with the development of Hokkaido in mind, so that we may advance
together based on the future vision of the Hokkaido of introduced in this
pamphlet. |
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