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Northern Coastal Regional Development Bureau Overview

The Kenpoku Regional Development Bureau area is located in the northern to northeastern part of Iwate Prefecture and consists of two cities—Kuji and Ninohe—and six towns and villages: Ichinohe Town, Karumai Town, Kunohe Village, Noda Village, Hirono Town, and Fudai Village. This region is one of the largest in Iwate Prefecture in terms of land area and is richly endowed with natural conditions. This page serves as a regional hub, consolidating links that lead to detailed information pages for each individual municipality.

The region extends approximately 70 kilometers from east to west and about 100 kilometers from north to south, encompassing a wide variety of landscapes that stretch from the Kitakami Mountains in the inland areas to the Sanriku Coast along the Pacific Ocean. In the western inland areas, communities based on agriculture and forestry are widely distributed, while in the eastern coastal areas, fisheries and seafood processing industries centered around Kuji Bay, Noda Bay, and the Fudai Coast have long supported the local economy. This inclusion of both inland and coastal areas is a defining geographical characteristic of the Kenpoku region.

The climate is characterized by an overlap of cool inland and maritime conditions. During winter, snowfall is heavy particularly in the inland areas, while summers are relatively cool with large temperature differences between seasons. Major transportation networks—including the Tohoku Shinkansen (Iwate-Numakunai Station and Ninohe Station), the Hachinohe Expressway, and National Routes 4 and 45—connect the region extensively, forming the foundation for daily life, industry, tourism, and logistics in northern Iwate Prefecture. As a junction linking inland and coastal areas, mountains and sea, this region plays a key role as an information hub for the wider northern Iwate area.

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