KITAKAMI, Iwate Pref. (Kyodo) This northeastern city with a population of 92,500 has been so successful in inviting businesses to set up shop that other cities are studying the "Kitakami model."
The municipal government first tried luring enterprises in the latter half of the 1950s when Japan was moving rapidly toward its miraculous economic expansion.
At that time, Kitakami was competing to build industrial complexes but was not a conspicuous player, even within industrially weak Iwate Prefecture, whose main industry is agriculture.