Prefectures of Japan

Map of the regions and prefectures of Japan

Prefectures of Japan (都道府県, todōfuken) are one of the basic local entities of Japan.^[1] They are the 47 subdivisions of the country. Prefectures are the governmental bodies of Japan which are larger than cities, towns, and villages.

History[change | change source]

The former provinces of Japan were converted into prefectures between 1876 and 1879.^[2]

The word todōfuken combines the suffixes of the names of the 47 prefectures.^[1] The four suffixes are:

-to .... one metropolis, or large city (都 -to), Tokyo (東京都, Tōkyōto)

-dō .... one “circuit” (道 -dō), Hokkaido (北海道, Hokkaidō)
-fu .... two city prefectures (府 -fu), Osaka (大阪府, Ōsakafu) and Kyoto (京都府, Kyōtofu)
-ken ... forty-three other prefectures (県 -ken)

Before World War II, different laws applied to fu and ken, but now two types of prefecture are the same, outside of their names.

Lists of prefectures[change | change source]

List in Japanese ISO order[change | change source]

The prefectures are often grouped into these nine regions (Chihō). The regions are not formally specified, they do not have elected officials, and they are not corporate bodies. However, the practice of ordering prefectures based on their geographic region is traditional.^[2] This ordering is mirrored in Japan's International Organization for Standardization (ISO) coding.^[3] From north to south, the prefectures of Japan and their commonly associated regions are listed in traditional and in ISO 3166-2:JP order:

Hokkaidō

1. Hokkaidō

Tōhoku

2. Aomori
3. Iwate
4. Miyagi
5. Akita
6. Yamagata
7. Fukushima

Kantō

8. Ibaraki
9. Tochigi
10. Gunma
11. Saitama
12. Chiba
13. Tokyo^[4]
14. Kanagawa

Chūbu

15. Niigata
16. Toyama
17. Ishikawa
18. Fukui
19. Yamanashi
20. Nagano
21. Gifu
22. Shizuoka
23. Aichi

Kansai

24. Mie
25. Shiga
26. Kyoto
27. Osaka
28. Hyōgo
29. Nara
30. Wakayama

Chūgoku

31. Tottori
32. Shimane
33. Okayama
34. Hiroshima
35. Yamaguchi

Shikoku

36. Tokushima
37. Kagawa
38. Ehime
39. Kōchi

Kyūshū

40. Fukuoka
41. Saga
42. Nagasaki
43. Kumamoto
44. Ōita
45. Miyazaki
46. Kagoshima

Okinawa

47. Okinawa

Okinawa Prefecture is traditionally thought of as part of the Kyūshū region of Japan.^[5] Okinawa Prefecture is made up of islands which are southwest of the island of Kyushu.^[6] The Japanese government recognizes the prefecture as its own region in new 9-region, 11-region and 13-region systems.^[7]

List in Western alphabetical order[change | change source]

The default alphabetic order in this sortable table can be altered to mirror the traditional Japanese regions and ISO parsing.

Prefecture	Japanese	Capital	Region	Island	Population¹	Area²	Density³	Distr.	Municip.	ISO
Aichi	愛知県	Nagoya	Chūbu	Honshū	7,043,235	5,153.81	1,366	15	88	JP-23
Akita	秋田県	Akita	Tōhoku	Honshū	1,189,215	11,612.11	102	8	29	JP-05
Aomori	青森県	Aomori	Tōhoku	Honshū	1,475,635	9,606.26	154	8	61	JP-02
Chiba	千葉県	Chiba	Kantō	Honshū	5,926,349	5,156.15	1,149	9	80	JP-12
Ehime	愛媛県	Matsuyama	Shikoku	Shikoku	1,493,126	5,676.44	263	7	28	JP-38
Fukui	福井県	Fukui	Chūbu	Honshū	828,960	4,188.76	198	10	29	JP-18
Fukuoka	福岡県	Fukuoka	Kyūshū	Kyūshū	5,015,666	4,971.01	1,009	17	91	JP-40
Fukushima	福島県	Fukushima	Tōhoku	Honshū	2,126,998	13,782.54	154	14	85	JP-07
Gifu	岐阜県	Gifu	Chūbu	Honshū	2,107,687	10,598.18	199	11	49	JP-21
Gunma	群馬県	Maebashi	Kantō	Honshū	2,024,820	6,363.16	318	12	61	JP-10
Hiroshima	広島県	Hiroshima	Chūgoku	Honshū	2,878,949	8,476.95	340	10	37	JP-34
Hokkaidō	北海道	Sapporo	Hokkaidō	Hokkaidō	5,682,950	83,452.47	68	66	207	JP-01
Hyōgo	兵庫県	Kobe	Kansai	Honshū	5,550,742	8,392.42	661	13	60	JP-28
Ibaraki	茨城県	Mito	Kantō	Honshū	2,985,424	6,095.62	490	13	61	JP-08
Ishikawa	石川県	Kanazawa	Chūbu	Honshū	1,180,935	4,185.32	282	7	25	JP-17
Iwate	岩手県	Morioka	Tōhoku	Honshū	1,416,198	15,278.51	93	12	46	JP-03
Kagawa	香川県	Takamatsu	Shikoku	Shikoku	1,022,843	1,861.70	549	5	17	JP-37
Kagoshima	鹿児島県	Kagoshima	Kyūshū	Kyūshū	1,786,214	9,132.42	196	11	49	JP-46
Kanagawa	神奈川県	Yokohama	Kantō	Honshū	8,489,932	2,415.42	3,515	7	35	JP-14
Kōchi	高知県	Kōchi	Shikoku	Shikoku	813,980	7,104.70	115	6	35	JP-39
Kumamoto	熊本県	Kumamoto	Kyūshū	Kyūshū	1,859,451	6,908.45	269	10	48	JP-43
Kyoto	京都府	Kyoto	Kansai	Honshū	2,644,331	4,612.93	573	6	28	JP-26
Mie	三重県	Tsu	Kansai	Honshū	1,857,365	5760.72	322	7	29	JP-24
Miyagi	宮城県	Sendai	Tōhoku	Honshū	2,365,204	7,285.16	325	10	36	JP-04
Miyazaki	宮崎県	Miyazaki	Kyūshū	Kyūshū	1,170,023	6,684.67	175	8	30	JP-45
Nagano	長野県	Nagano	Chūbu	Honshū	2,214,409	12,598.48	163	16	120	JP-20
Nagasaki	長崎県	Nagasaki	Kyūshū	Kyūshū	1,516,536	4,092.80	371	9	79	JP-42
Nara	奈良県	Nara	Kansai	Honshū	1,442,862	3,691.09	391	8	47	JP-29
Niigata	新潟県	Niigata	Chūbu	Honshū	2,475,724	12,582.37	197	16	111	JP-15
Ōita	大分県	Ōita	Kyūshū	Kyūshū	1,221,128	5,804.24	210	12	58	JP-44
Okayama	岡山県	Okayama	Chūgoku	Honshū	1,950,656	7,008.63	278	18	78	JP-33
Okinawa	沖縄県	Naha	Kyūshū	Ryūkyū Islands	1,318,281	2,271.30	580	5	41	JP-47
Osaka	大阪府	Osaka	Kansai	Honshū	8,804,806	1,893.18	4,652	5	44	JP-27
Saga	佐賀県	Saga	Kyūshū	Kyūshū	876,664	2,439.23	359	8	49	JP-41
Saitama	埼玉県	Saitama	Kantō	Honshū	6,938,004	3,767.09	1,827	9	90	JP-11
Shiga	滋賀県	Ōtsu	Kansai	Honshū	1,342,811	4,017.36	334	11	50	JP-25
Shimane	島根県	Matsue	Chūgoku	Honshū	761,499	6,707.32	114	12	59	JP-32
Shizuoka	静岡県	Shizuoka	Chūbu	Honshū	3,767,427	7,328.61	484	12	74	JP-22
Tochigi	栃木県	Utsunomiya	Kantō	Honshū	2,004,787	6,408.28	313	7	33	JP-09
Tokushima	徳島県	Tokushima	Shikoku	Shikoku	823,997	4,145.26	199	10	50	JP-36
Tokyo^[4]	東京都	Shinjuku	Kantō	Honshū	12,059,237	2,187.08	5,514	1	39	JP-13
Tottori	鳥取県	Tottori	Chūgoku	Honshū	613,229	3,507.19	175	6	39	JP-31
Toyama	富山県	Toyama	Chūbu	Honshū	1,120,843	4,247.22	264	6	27	JP-16
Wakayama	和歌山県	Wakayama	Kansai	Honshū	1,069,839	4,725.55	226	7	50	JP-30
Yamagata	山形県	Yamagata	Tōhoku	Honshū	1,244,040	9,323.34	133	9	44	JP-06
Yamaguchi	山口県	Yamaguchi	Chūgoku	Honshū	1,528,107	6,110.76	250	11	56	JP-35
Yamanashi	山梨県	Kōfu	Chūbu	Honshū	888,170	4,465.37	199	8	64	JP-19

Notes: 1- Population as of 2000; 2- Area km²; 3- Density per km²

Related pages[change | change source]

References[change | change source]

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 Web-Japan.org, "Local self-government," p. 1; retrieved 2012-12-19.
↑ ^2.0 ^2.1 Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2002). "Provinces and prefectures" in Japan encyclopedia, p. 780.
↑ See ISO 3166
↑ ^4.0 ^4.1 Tokyo Prefecture means Tokyo-fu (東京府, 1869-1943); and Tokyo, Tokyo means City of Tokyo (東京市, Tōkyō-shi, 1869-1943). Tokyo means the Tokyo Metropolis (東京都, Tōkyō-to, 1943-present).
↑ Kanno, Eiji. (1998). New Japan Solo, p. 397; excerpt, "Administratively, Okinawa is part of Kyushu Region, even though it is l .000 km (625 miles) southwest of Kagoshima."
↑ Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Okinawa-ken" in Japan Encyclopedia, pp. 746-747.
↑ Hook, Glenn D. (2011). Decoding Boundaries in Contemporary Japan: The Koizumi Administration and Beyond, pp. 145-146.

Other websites[change | change source]

[web-japan-1] 1.0 ^1.1 Web-Japan.org, "Local self-government," p. 1; retrieved 2012-12-19.

[nussbaum780-2] 2.0 ^2.1 Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2002). "Provinces and prefectures" in Japan encyclopedia, p. 780.

[3] See ISO 3166

[tokyo-4] 4.0 ^4.1 Tokyo Prefecture means Tokyo-fu (東京府, 1869-1943); and Tokyo, Tokyo means City of Tokyo (東京市, Tōkyō-shi, 1869-1943). Tokyo means the Tokyo Metropolis (東京都, Tōkyō-to, 1943-present).

[5] Kanno, Eiji. (1998). New Japan Solo, p. 397; excerpt, "Administratively, Okinawa is part of Kyushu Region, even though it is l .000 km (625 miles) southwest of Kagoshima."

[nussbaum746-6] Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Okinawa-ken" in Japan Encyclopedia, pp. 746-747.

[7] Hook, Glenn D. (2011). Decoding Boundaries in Contemporary Japan: The Koizumi Administration and Beyond, pp. 145-146.

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Prefectures of Japan

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