Nagano [key], city (1990 pop. 347,026), capital of Nagano prefecture, central Honshu, Japan, on the Tenryu River. It has a food-processing industry and produces auto parts and textiles. It is also a religious center, the site of Zenkoji, a 7th-century Buddhist temple housing statues sent from the king of Korea in 552. It hosted the Winter Olympic games in 1998, when it became linked to Tokyo by a “bullet train.” Nagano prefecture (1990 pop. 2,156,656), 5,261 sq mi (13,626 sq km) is landlocked and extremely mountainous, with an average elevation of more than 2,600 ft (790 m). It is known for its raw-silk industry.
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