Tōhoku region
Tōhoku was traditionally considered the granary of Japan because it supplied Sendai and the Tokyo-Yokohama market with rice and other farming commodities. Tōhoku provided 20 percent of the nation's rice crop. The climate, however, is harsher than in other parts of Honshū due to the stronger effect of the Siberian High, and permits only one crop a year on paddy fields.
Fruits Basket
The "Fruits Basket" manga series is one of the top manga series in both Japan and in the US. More than 18 million copies have been sold in Japan. It is Tokyopop's best selling manga series, with more than 2 million copies sold as of 2006. The fifteenth volume of the English release rose to the 15th position on the USA Today Top 150 Bestselling Books, which is the highest position ever achieved by a volume of manga in the United States. The eighteenth volume debuted at the top of the Nielsen BookScan sales list, while the nineteenth volume was the second bestselling graphic novel in March 2008. Despite a slow manga market, "Fruits Basket" remained the second highest overall selling manga series among the Bookscan companies in 2007. The final volume of the English adaptation was a "New York Times" manga bestseller from June 28 through July 25, moving from #2 to #1 in the list in the week of July 19–25. The volume dropped back down to second place the following week, then dropped to 4th place in the week of August 8. The final volume remained on the best seller list for 12 weeks.