The Toyama Plain is good farmland and historically it was a point of strategic and traffic importance. During the Feudal Age, it was frequently turned into a battlefield. Toward the end of the period of confusion, Sassa Narimasa became the governor of Etch? Province (the ancient name for present Toyama), and he accomplished the feat of taming the rampaging rivers, bringing about an even more flourishing agricultural industry in Toyama. In the early Edo Period, a positive industrial promotion policy was implemented on the production of medicine and washi (Japanese paper). Also, thanks to the improvement of both land and sea transportation routes, these industries thrived and Toyama became known nation-wide as the province of medicine.
After the Meiji Restoration, heavy and chemical industries developed in Toyama, based on abundant electricity which was generated in some hydro power stations in the mountains near-by. Although the streets of Toyama were devastated by an air raid in August 1945, Toyama has become one of the most influential cities on the Japan Sea side with its good water supply, drainage system and thriving agricultural, forestry, fishery, commercial and manufacturing industries.
The city was nearly destroyed on the night of August 1�2, 1945, when 173 B-29 bombers of the American 73rd Bomber Wing dropped incendiary bombs on the city. 1.87 square miles (4.8 km), or about 99.5 percent, of the urban center was destroyed. At the time of the bombing, the city was a center for aluminum, ball-bearing and special steel production. The city during the time had a population of around 150,000 residents
