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Concept
Kii Peninsula
Summary
The Kii Peninsula is the largest peninsula on the island of Honshū in Japan. It is named after the ancient Kii Province. The peninsula has long been a sacred place in Buddhism, Shinto, and Shugendo, and many people would visit from all over Japan as part of the Kumano religious practices.
The area south of the “Central Tectonic Line” is called Nanki, and is home to reef-like coral communities which are amongst the northernmost in the world (apart from cold-water corals) due to the presence of the warm Kuroshio Current, though these are threatened by global warming and human interference. Because of the Kuroshio’s strong influence, the climate of Nankii is the wettest in the Earth’s subtropics with rainfall in the southern mountains believed to reach per year and averaging in the southeastern town of Owase, comparable to Ketchikan, Alaska or Tortel in southern Chile. When typhoons hit Japan, the Kii Peninsula is typically the worst affected area and daily rainfalls as high as are known so the Kii Peninsula is often referred to as the Typhoon Ginza (after Ginza in Tokyo). The peninsula was severely affected by the 2011 typhoon season, which caused severe damage and many deaths. A significant amount of damage remains today from the 2011 landslides caused by the typhoons.
The natural landscape of the Kii Peninsula is dense temperate rainforest, but the vast majority of forests are monoculture pine plantations which were planted to rebuild after the destruction of World War II. The region is well known for its citrus varieties and orchards. Much of the coast consists of networks of small rias into which flow very steep and rapid streams characterised by numerous high waterfalls. Forestry and fishing were the traditional economic mainstays of the region and remain important even today despite a declining population and labour force. The region is affected by the dual-crises of severe population decline and widespread poverty.
Wakayama Prefecture occupies much of the area, including the entire southern part.
Official source
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