Yet in Nishi-Koizumi in Gunma prefecture, just north of Tokyo, a town dominated by a Sanyo electronics plant, the picture is different.

ECONOMIST: Japanese immigration

He likes to describe himself as a ramen-noodle shop, dwarfed by two skyscrapers, for his native Gunma prefecture is also home to two former prime ministers, Yasuhiro Nakasone and Takeo Fukuda.

CNN: ASIANOW - TIME Asia

The prefecture of Gunma, north of Tokyo, had no history of frequent or severe earthquakes.

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