List of regions of Japan

Japan is often divided into regions, each containing one or more of the country's 47 prefectures at large. Sometimes, they are referred to as "blocs" (ブロック, burokku), or "regional blocs" (地域ブロック, chiiki burokku) as opposed to more granular regional divisions. They are not official administrative units, though they have been used by government officials for statistical and other purposes since 1905. They are widely used in, for example, maps, geography textbooks, and weather reports, and many businesses and institutions use their home regions in their names as well, for example Kyushu National Museum, Kinki Nippon Railway, Chūgoku Bank, and Tōhoku University.

Map of the regions of Japan as preferred by the English Wikipedia (for other divisions, see #Other regional divisions). From northeast to southwest: Hokkaidō (red), Tōhoku (yellow), Kantō (green), Chūbu (cyan), Kansai (indigo), Chūgoku (orange), Shikoku (purple), and Kyūshū & Okinawa (grey).

One common division, preferred by the English Wikipedia, groups the prefectures into eight regions. In that division, of the four main islands of Japan, Hokkaidō, Shikoku, and Kyūshū make up one region each, the latter also containing the Satsunan Islands, while the largest island Honshū is divided into five regions. Okinawa Prefecture is usually included in Kyūshū, but is sometimes treated as its own ninth region.^[1][2][3]

Japan has eight High Courts, but their jurisdictions do not correspond to the eight Wikipedia regions (see #Other regional divisions and Judicial system of Japan for details).

Table

Region	Population	Area in km2[4]	Prefectures contained
Hokkaidō	5.1 million[5]	83,000	Hokkaidō
Tōhoku	8.9 million[6]	67,000	Akita, Aomori, Fukushima, Iwate, Miyagi, Yamagata
Kantō	43.3 million[7]	32,000	Chiba, Gunma, Ibaraki, Kanagawa, Saitama, Tochigi, Tōkyō
Chūbu	21.4 million[8]	67,000	Aichi, Fukui, Gifu, Ishikawa, Nagano, Niigata, Shizuoka, Toyama, Yamanashi
Kansai (also known as Kinki)	22.5 million[9]	33,000	Hyōgo, Kyōto, Mie, Nara, Ōsaka, Shiga, Wakayama
Chūgoku	7.3 million[10]	32,000	Hiroshima, Okayama, Shimane, Tottori, Yamaguchi
Shikoku	3.8 million[11]	19,000	Ehime, Kagawa, Kōchi, Tokushima
Kyūshū & Okinawa	14.3 million[12]	44,000	Fukuoka, Kagoshima, Kumamoto, Miyazaki, Nagasaki, Ōita, Okinawa, Saga

Regions and islands

This is a list of Japan's major islands, traditional regions, and subregions, going from northeast to southwest.^[13][14] The eight traditional regions are marked in bold.

• Hokkaidō (the island and its archipelago)
• Honshū
  • Tōhoku region (northern part)
  • Kantō region (eastern part)
    • Nanpō Islands (part of Tokyo Metropolis)
  • Chūbu region (central part)
    • Hokuriku region (northwestern Chūbu)
    • Kōshin'etsu region (northeastern Chūbu)
    • Tōkai region (southern Chūbu)
  • Kansai (or Kinki) region (south-central part)
  • Chūgoku region (western part)
    • San'in region (northern Chūgoku)
    • San'yō region (southern Chūgoku)
• Shikoku
• Kyūshū
  • Northern Kyūshū
  • Southern Kyūshū
  • Ryukyu Islands
    • Satsunan Islands
    • Okinawa

Other regional divisions

In many contexts in Japan (government, media markets, sports, regional business or trade union confederations), regions are used that deviate from the above-mentioned common geographical 8-region division that is sometimes referred to as "the" regions of Japan in the English Wikipedia and some other English-language publications. Examples of regional divisions of Japan as used by various institutions are:

National Police Agency regional supervisory offices^[15]

Region	Prefectures
–	Hokkaidō (separate liaison office with the National Police Agency)
Tōhoku	Aomori, Iwate, Miyagi, Akita, Yamagata, Fukushima
–	Tokyo (separate liaison office with the National Police Agency)
Kantō	Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma, Saitama, Chiba, Kanagawa, Niigata, Nagano, Yamanashi, Shizuoka
Chūbu	Toyama, Ishikawa, Fukui, Gifu, Aichi, Mie
Kinki	Shiga, Kyoto, Osaka, Hyōgo, Nara, Wakayama
Chūgoku	Tottori, Shimane, Okayama, Hiroshima, Yamaguchi
Shikoku	Tokushima, Kagawa, Ehime, Kōchi
Kyūshū	Fukuoka, Saga, Nagasaki, Kumamoto, Ōita, Miyazaki, Kagoshima, Okinawa

NHK broadcasting regions^[16]

Region	Prefectures
Hokkaidō	Hokkaidō
Tōhoku	Aomori, Iwate, Miyagi, Akita, Yamagata, Fukushima
Kantō-Kōshin'etsu	Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma, Saitama, Chiba, Tokyo, Kanagawa, Nagano, Niigata, Yamanashi
Tōkai-Hokuriku	Toyama, Ishikawa, Fukui, Shizuoka, Gifu, Aichi, Mie
Kinki	Shiga, Kyoto, Osaka, Hyōgo, Nara, Wakayama
Chūgoku	Tottori, Shimane, Okayama, Hiroshima, Yamaguchi
Shikoku	Tokushima, Kagawa, Ehime, Kōchi
Kyūshū	Fukuoka, Saga, Nagasaki, Kumamoto, Ōita, Miyazaki, Kagoshima, Okinawa

MLIT regional development offices^[17]

Region	Prefectures (Nagano is split)
–	Hokkaidō (originally had a separate, cabinet-level development agency, now a separate MLIT department)
Tōhoku	Aomori, Iwate, Miyagi, Akita, Yamagata, Fukushima
Kantō	Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma, Saitama, Chiba, Tokyo, Kanagawa, Yamanashi, Nagano (northern part)
Hokuriku	Niigata, Toyama, Ishikawa
Chūbu	Nagano (southern part), Gifu, Shizuoka, Aichi, Mie
Kinki	Shiga, Kyoto, Osaka, Hyōgo, Nara, Wakayama, Fukui
Chūgoku	Tottori, Shimane, Okayama, Hiroshima, Yamaguchi
Shikoku	Tokushima, Kagawa, Ehime, Kōchi
Kyūshū	Fukuoka, Saga, Nagasaki, Kumamoto, Ōita, Miyazaki, Kagoshima
–	Okinawa (originally had a separate, cabinet-level development agency, now a department in the Cabinet Office)

JMA weather forecast regions^[18]

Region	Prefectures
Hokkaidō	Hokkaidō
Tōhoku	Aomori, Iwate, Miyagi, Akita, Yamagata, Fukushima
Kantō-Kōshin	Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma, Saitama, Chiba, Tokyo, Kanagawa, Yamanashi, Nagano
Hokuriku	Niigata, Toyama, Ishikawa, Fukui
Tōkai	Gifu, Shizuoka, Aichi, Mie
Kinki	Shiga, Kyoto, Osaka, Hyōgo, Nara, Wakayama
Chūgoku	Tottori, Shimane, Okayama, Hiroshima
Shikoku	Tokushima, Kagawa, Ehime, Kōchi
Northern Kyūshū	Yamaguchi, Fukuoka, Saga, Nagasaki, Kumamoto, Ōita
Southern Kyūshū-Amami	Miyazaki, Kagoshima
Okinawa	Okinawa

Regional proportional representation constituencies for the lower house of the Japanese parliament

Proportional constituencies ("blocks") for elections to the House of Representatives

Constituency	Prefectures
Hokkaidō	Hokkaidō
Tōhoku	Aomori, Iwate, Miyagi, Akita, Yamagata, Fukushima
Northern Kantō	Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma, Saitama
Tokyo	Tokyo
Southern Kantō	Chiba, Kanagawa, Yamanashi
Hokuriku-Shin'etsu	Niigata, Nagano, Toyama, Ishikawa, Fukui
Tōkai	Gifu, Shizuoka, Aichi, Mie
Kinki	Shiga, Kyoto, Osaka, Hyōgo, Nara, Wakayama
Chūgoku	Tottori, Shimane, Okayama, Hiroshima, Yamaguchi
Shikoku	Tokushima, Kagawa, Ehime, Kōchi
Kyūshū	Fukuoka, Saga, Nagasaki, Kumamoto, Ōita, Miyazaki, Kagoshima, Okinawa

High Court jurisdictions

High court	Prefectures
Sapporo	Hokkaidō
Sendai	Aomori, Iwate, Miyagi, Akita, Yamagata, Fukushima
Tokyo	Tokyo, Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma, Saitama, Chiba, Kanagawa, Niigata, Yamanashi, Nagano, Shizuoka
Nagoya	Aichi, Mie, Gifu, Ishikawa, Fukui, Toyama
Osaka	Shiga, Kyoto, Osaka, Hyōgo, Nara, Wakayama
Hiroshima	Tottori, Shimane, Okayama, Hiroshima, Yamaguchi
Takamatsu	Tokushima, Kagawa, Ehime, Kōchi
Fukuoka	Fukuoka, Saga, Nagasaki, Kumamoto, Ōita, Miyazaki, Kagoshima, Okinawa

Regional qualifiers for the "spring Kōshien"
(Japanese High School Baseball Invitational Tournament)

Region	Prefectures
Hokkaidō	Hokkaidō
Tōhoku	Aomori, Iwate, Miyagi, Akita, Yamagata, Fukushima
Kantō	Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma, Saitama, Chiba, Kanagawa, Yamanashi
Tokyo	Tokyo
Tōkai	Gifu, Shizuoka, Aichi, Mie
Hoku-Shin'etsu	Niigata, Nagano, Toyama, Ishikawa, Fukui
Kinki	Shiga, Kyoto, Osaka, Hyōgo, Nara, Wakayama
Chūgoku	Tottori, Shimane, Okayama, Hiroshima, Yamaguchi
Shikoku	Tokushima, Kagawa, Ehime, Kōchi
Kyūshū	Fukuoka, Saga, Nagasaki, Kumamoto, Ōita, Miyazaki, Kagoshima, Okinawa

Football regions of Japan

Regional football/soccer leagues

Region	Prefectures
Hokkaidō	Hokkaidō
Tōhoku	North: Aomori, Iwate, Akita South: Miyagi, Yamagata, Fukushima
Kantō	Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma, Saitama, Chiba, Tokyo, Kanagawa, Yamanashi
Tōkai	Gifu, Shizuoka, Aichi, Mie
Hoku-Shin'etsu	Niigata, Toyama, Ishikawa, Fukui, Nagano
Kansai	Shiga, Kyoto, Osaka, Hyōgo, Nara, Wakayama
Chūgoku	Tottori, Shimane, Okayama, Hiroshima, Yamaguchi
Shikoku	Tokushima, Kagawa, Ehime, Kōchi
Kyūshū	Fukuoka, Saga, Nagasaki, Kumamoto, Ōita, Miyazaki, Kagoshima, Okinawa

Regions used in the Bank of Japan regional economical report ("Sakura report")^[19]

Region	Prefectures
Hokkaidō	Hokkaidō
Tōhoku	Aomori, Iwate, Miyagi, Akita, Yamagata, Fukushima
Hokuriku	Toyama, Ishikawa, Fukui
Kantō-Kōshin'etsu	Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma, Saitama, Chiba, Tokyo, Kanagawa, Niigata, Yamanashi, Nagano
Tōkai	Gifu, Shizuoka, Aichi, Mie
Kinki	Shiga, Kyoto, Osaka, Hyōgo, Nara, Wakayama
Chūgoku	Tottori, Shimane, Okayama, Hiroshima, Yamaguchi
Shikoku	Tokushima, Kagawa, Ehime, Kōchi
Kyūshū-Okinawa	Fukuoka, Saga, Nagasaki, Kumamoto, Ōita, Miyazaki, Kagoshima, Okinawa

Regions as administrative units

1945 seat of the Chūgoku governorate-general in Hiroshima City, previously and today a building used by Hiroshima University

In the later stages of World War II, in preparation for an Allied invation of the home islands, regions served as administrative units between the Home Ministry and the governments of prefectures from 1943. Initially, nine "regional administrative joint conferences" (地方行政協議会, chihō gyōsei kyō-kaigi) were set up, each comprising several prefectural governments under the leadership of one prefectural government. In 1945, they were consolidated into eight centralized "regional governorates-general" (地方総監府, chihō sōkan-fu) with authority of command over the subordinate prefectural governments. The regions corresponded territorially to the military districts (軍管区, gunkan-ku) as used by the Imperial Army in 1945. They were namely:

Region (-chihō)	Prefectures (-to/-chō/-fu/-ken)	Seat of the governorate-general	Regional governor-general (chihō sōkan) (initially in June 1945)	Corresponding Imperial Army military district (gunkan-ku)
Hokkai	Karafuto, Hokkaidō	Sapporo City	Kumagai Ken'ichi (concurrent governor of Hokkaidō(-chō))	Hokubu (Northern)
Tōhoku	Aomori, Iwate, Miyagi, Akita, Yamagata, Fukushima	Sendai City	Maruyama Tsurukichi (previous governor of Miyagi)	Tōhoku (Northeastern)
Kantō-Shin'etsu	Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma, Saitama, Chiba, Tokyo, Kanagawa, Yamanashi, Niigata, Nagano	Tokyo	Nishio Toshizō (concurrent governor of Tokyo)	Tōbu (Eastern)
Tōkai-Hokuriku	Gifu, Shizuoka, Aichi, Mie, Toyama, Ishikawa	Nagoya City	Obata Tadayoshi (previous governor of Aichi)	Tōkai
Kinki	Shiga, Kyoto, Osaka, Hyōgo, Nara, Wakayama, Fukui	Osaka City	Yasui Eiji (previous governor of Osaka)	Chūbu (Central)
Chūgoku	Tottori, Shimane, Okayama, Hiroshima, Yamaguchi	Hiroshima City	Ōtsuka Isei (previous governor of Hiroshima)	Chūgoku
Shikoku	Tokushima, Kagawa, Ehime, Kōchi	Takamatsu City	Kimura Masayoshi (concurrent governor of Kagawa)	Shikoku
Kyūshū	Fukuoka, Saga, Nagasaki, Kumamoto, Ōita, Miyazaki, Kagoshima, Okinawa	Fukuoka City	Totsuka Kuichirō (previous governor of Fukuoka)	Seibu (Western)

After capitulation, the governorates-general were immediately dissolved by GHQ/SCAP and the (in the Empire: very limited) local autonomy of prefectural governments and their elected assemblies restored to be eventually substantially expanded by the Constitution and the Local Autonomy Law in 1947.

See also

• Ecoregions of Japan
• Geography of Japan
• Prefectures of Japan

References

1. "Regions". Archived from the original on 2020-07-27. Retrieved 2021-02-14.
2. Regions of Japan
3. A Guide to the Regions of Japan
4. Japan's Regional Megamarkets - Semantic Scholar (PDF)
5. What special characteristics does Hokkaido have? from Kids Web Japan
6. What special characteristics does the Tohoku region have? from Kids Web Japan
7. What special characteristics does the Kanto region have? from Kids Web Japan
8. What special characteristics does the Chubu region have? from Kids Web Japan
9. What special characteristics does the Kinki region have? from Kids Web Japan
10. What special characteristics does the Chugoku region have? from Kids Web Japan
11. What special characteristics does the Shikoku region have? from Kids Web Japan
12. What special characteristics does the Kyushu-Okinawa region have? from Kids Web Japan
13. Regions of Japan on japan-guide.com
14. Regions of Japan on web-japan.org
15. NPA: 管区警察局の活動, retrieved September 24, 2021.
16. NHK: 全国のNHK Archived 2022-06-13 at the Wayback Machine, retrieved September 24, 2021.
17. MLIT: 地方整備局, retrieved September 24, 2021.
18. JMA: 天気予報等で用いる用語>地域名, retrieved September 24, 2021.
19. BoJ: 地域経済報告 ── さくらレポート ── （２０２１年７月）, the definition of regions is in the table of contents before p. 1 (Summary in English translation, the definition of regions is in the appendix), retrieved September 24, 2021.

External links

Media related to Regions of Japan at Wikimedia Commons

• 地方行政協議会 chihō gyōsei kyōkaigi and 地方総監府chihō sōkanfu in the Japan Center for Asian Historical Records (JACAR) glossary, National Archives of Japan, retrieved December 4, 2024