The pineapple, a representative fruit of Okinawa Prefecture, brought about a richer life for people in the northern part of its main island after the war. The fruit created jobs not only for farmers but also at canning factories, which supported the local economy around the time of Okinawa's reversion to Japan.
The red soil of the north of the prefecture makes it difficult to grow crops, but the pineapple is suited for cultivation in such soil and is also resistant to typhoons. Pineapple cultivation in the area developed in the 1950s, as a "core industry of the next generation," which did not require as much labor as sugarcane.
As people envisioned a better life, they learned to cultivate the red soil.
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