四国経済連合会

Shikoku, one of the four main islands of Japan, is located in the southwestern part of the Japanese archipelago at a latitude of 34°N, the same latitude as Los Angeles in the U.S. and Xi'an in China. The island faces the Pacific Ocean to the south and the Seto Inland Sea to the north.

With a land area of 18,806 km2, Shikoku accounts for 5% of the total land area of Japan and its population is 3.9 million.

Shikoku is comprised of four prefectures, Tokushima, Kagawa, Ehime and Kochi and the combined gross domestic product of all four prefectures amounts to about 127.3 billion US dollars.

Combined gross domestic product of the Shikoku area for the primary industries amounts to 5.6% of the national total, higher than average when compared to other areas of Japan, while that for the secondary industries is 2.5% of the national total and that for tertiary industries represents 2.6%.

Shikoku's value of manufactured goods, shipments, etc. is about 80.728 million US dollars, comprising 3.1% of Japan's total. Its ratio of basic material industries to the overall total exceeds the national average because of the high percentage of pulp, paper, paper products and chemical and allied products. Its ratio of the lifestyle-related industries is also higher than the national average due to the high percentage of food, beverage, tobacco and feed industries.