a prefecture in Japan, in the southeastern part of the island of Honshu. Area, 2, 400 sq km; population, 5, 472, 000 (1970), of which 90 percent was urban. The administrative center is the city of Yokohama.
Kanagawa is part of Japan’s largest industrial region, Kanto. Kanagawa Prefecture accounts for more than 10 percent of Japan’s total industrial production (in terms of value). The main branches of industry include machine building, (particularly transportation—ships and motor vehicles; approximately 22 percent of Kanagawa’s industrial output) and electrical engineering (21 percent), as well as chemistry (18 percent), metallurgy (12 percent), and the food industry (10 percent). The cities of Yokohama, Tsurumi, and Kawasaki are the main industrial centers. Agriculture includes the cultivation of rice, wheat, and tobacco. Tangerines, vegetables, and flowers are grown, and beef and dairy cattle and poultry are raised. There is fishing off the coast of the Miura Peninsula. The area also has tourism.