The development of the port of Nagoya as the timber complex hub and the formation of its waterfront zone

Focusing on the oversea shipping routes

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to clarify how the Port of Nagoya waterfront zone was formed focusing on the relationship between the connection of global trading networks and the formation of waterfront zone by timber industry. In the process of the Japanese modernization, the timber market expanded due to demand for the construction of industrial infrastructure. The area around Nagoya has had a thriving timber industry since the early modern period, and timber was transported from mountains through rivers by rafts until the 1910s. However, Once the first stage of modern port construction completed, large volumes of timber began to be imported from East Asia and North America. It led to the rapid construction of lumberyards until 1920s, and simultaneously oversea shipping routes have increased. Some timber merchants established land development companies to operate huge marine lumberyards and develop lands around there as an offshoot of the major spatial changes in waterfront zone. After all, the general form of the Port of Nagoya and principles for the use of the port area were defined by the timber transportation. Capturing these relationships gives an exogenous perspective to explain the formation process of the Port of Nagoya.