List of regions of Japan

Japan is traditionally divided into eight regions. They are not official administrative units, but are used for regional division of Japan in a number of contexts. For instance, maps and geography textbooks divide Japan into the eight regions, weather reports usually give the weather by region, and many businesses and institutions use their home region as part of their name (Kinki Nippon Railway, Chūgoku Bank, Tōhoku University, etc.).

Map of the regions of Japan. From northeast to southwest: Hokkaidō (red), Tōhoku (yellow), Kantō (green), Chūbu (cyan), Kansai (blue), Chūgoku (orange), Shikoku (purple) and Kyūshū & Okinawa (grey).
Administrative divisions
of Japan
Prefectural
Prefectures
Sub-prefectural
Municipal
Sub-municipal

Each region groups several of the country's 47 prefectures, except for the region of Hokkaidō which corresponds to Hokkaidō Prefecture. Of the four main islands of Japan, three make up a region each while the largest island of Honshū is divided into five regions. Okinawa Prefecture is usually included in Kyūshū, but is sometimes treated as its own ninth Okinawa region.

While Japan has eight High Courts, their jurisdictions do not correspond to the eight traditional regions below. (See Judicial system of Japan for details).

Table
RegionPopulationArea in km2[1]Prefectures contained
Hokkaidō5.4 million[2]83,000Hokkaidō
Tōhoku8.91 million[3]67,000Akita, Aomori, Fukushima, Iwate, Miyagi, Yamagata
Kantō43.3 million[4]32,000Chiba, Gunma, Ibaraki, Kanagawa, Saitama, Tochigi, Tōkyō
Chūbu21.4 million[5]67,000Aichi, Fukui, Gifu, Ishikawa, Nagano,
Niigata, Shizuoka, Toyama, Yamanashi
Kansai (also
known as Kinki)		22.5 million[6]33,000Hyōgo, Kyōto, Mie, Nara, Ōsaka, Shiga, Wakayama
Chūgoku7.3 million[7]32,000Hiroshima, Okayama, Shimane, Tottori, Yamaguchi
Shikoku3.8 million[8]19,000Ehime, Kagawa, Kōchi, Tokushima
Kyūshū14.5 million[9]44,000Fukuoka, Ōita, Kagoshima, Kumamoto,
Miyazaki, Nagasaki, Okinawa, Saga

Regions and islands

This is a list of Japan's major islands, traditional regions, and subregions, going from northeast to southwest.[10][11] The eight traditional regions are marked in bold.

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See also

References
  1. Japan's Regional Megamarkets - Semantic Scholar (PDF)
  2. What special characteristics does Hokkaido have? from Kids Web Japan
  3. What special characteristics does the Tohoku region have? from Kids Web Japan
  4. What special characteristics does the Kanto region have? from Kids Web Japan
  5. What special characteristics does the Chubu region have? from Kids Web Japan
  6. What special characteristics does the Kinki region have? from Kids Web Japan
  7. What special characteristics does the Chugoku region have? from Kids Web Japan
  8. What special characteristics does the Shikoku region have? from Kids Web Japan
  9. What special characteristics does the Kyushu-Okinawa region have? from Kids Web Japan
  10. Regions of Japan on japan-guide.com
  11. Regions of Japan on web-japan.org

Media related to Regions of Japan at Wikimedia Commons

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