Chiba

Chiba Prefecture (千葉県) sits as the sprawling eastern gateway to the Tokyo Metropolis, bordered by the Pacific Ocean to the east and Tokyo Bay to the west. While it is perhaps most famous internationally as the home of Narita Airport and the Tokyo Disney Resort, the prefecture offers a landscape far more diverse than its logistical hubs suggest. Much of the area of Chiba is taken up by the Boso Peninsula—a luscious green area that sees more rainfall than Tokyo and the rest of the region. This geography fosters a fertile interior of rolling hills and terraced rice paddies, providing a vibrant, emerald contrast to the urban sprawl of the capital.

Demographically, Chiba presents a stark contrast between its industrial north and its rural south. As Japan’s sixth most populous prefecture, the vast majority of residents are concentrated in the northern corridor, which serves as a vital commuter hub for Tokyo. However, moving further down the peninsula reveals a slower pace of life. Along the 60-kilometer stretch of Kujukuri Beach, surfers and sunseekers find one of Japan’s longest sandy shores, while the rugged cliffs of Mount Nokogiri house ancient Buddhist carvings. Chiba is a region of dualities, successfully balancing its role as a necessary organ of the metropolitan machine with its identity as a wild, maritime sanctuary.