Portal:Japan/Geography/Selected prefecture/16

Toyama Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region on Honshū island. The capital is the city of Toyama. Toyama is the leading industrial prefecture on the Japan Sea coast, and has the industrial advantage of cheap electricity due to abundant water resources. The Itai-itai disease occurred in Toyama around 1950. Historically, Toyama Prefecture was Etchū Province. Due to the mergers in the 2000s, Toyama has the fewest municipalities of any prefecture in Japan with 10 cities, 2 districts, 4 towns, and 1 village (before the mergers took place, the prefecture had 9 cities, 18 towns, and 8 villages). Toyama is famous for its historical pharmaceutical industry which remains a top manufacturing industry in the prefecture in terms of manufacturing shipment value followed by electronic parts and devices (industrial robots, general machinery, etc.), and metal products (aluminum, copper etc.) manufacturing. The Kurobe dam generates electricity for the Kansai Electric Power Company. It is located on the Kurobe River in Toyama Prefecture. As of February 1, 2008, the prefecture's population was estimated to be 1,104,239.