Talk:List of regions of Japan

Ryukyu Islands

This article lists the Ryukyu Islands as an independent region. That would bring the number of regions of Japan to 9 instead of 8. Enwp lists the islands as a sub-region in Kyūshū. Is it its own region (#9) or a sub-region? --Creol(talk) 23:42, 3 April 2012 (UTC)

This question does not have an easy answer, but the process of finding an answer does have a context in reliable, published sources.

• A. The traditional number of regions is 8. In other words, Japan's forty-seven prefectures are grouped into eight regions which are often used in government documents.<:ref name="loc">Library of Congress Country Studies, Japan (LOC), "Geographic Regions"; "The islands of Hokkaido, Shikoku, and Kyushu each form a region, and the main island of Honshu is divided into five regions"; retrieved 2012-4-3.</ref>

• B. The LOC Country Study includes the Ryukyu Islands in its index here; and the inclusion of this non-traditional red link acknowledges the post-war development in the islands.<:ref>LOC, "Ryukyu Islands"; excerpt, "... the region experienced considerable industrial expansion during the period of United States occupation from 1945 to 1972"; retrieved 2012-4-3.</ref>

Perhaps some explanation is needed for this bullet -- or maybe a separate section; but this prose can probably wait until the expected new article is created. --Horeki (talk) 01:09, 4 April 2012 (UTC)

Satow analysis

This explanation is helpful.

"It will he seen from a comparison of this list of geographical divisions that the main island contains the Go-kinai, Tokaido, Tosando, Hokurikndo, Sanyodo, Sanindo and one province of the Nankaido. To use the names of these divisions is just as convenient for a Japanese as to use a collective name like that which foreign geographers have misapplied to the whole island would he. The explanation of the anomaly is, therefore, that it has never heen felt. The smaller of the two adjacent islands, namely Shikoku (or the Four Provinces), contains the rest of theNankaidd; while the Saikaido exactly corresponds to the third island, Ivinshin, or the nine Provinces. Europeans repeatedly confuse this island with the Province of Kishin, on account of the resemblance of the two names. The fact that the names of these divisions are all derived from Chinese words confirms the statement that the system has emanated from Corea, in which country the Chinese language seems almost universally to have furnished the names of places. Every province, except the cloven of the Hokkaido, and the seven into which Oshin and Dewa have heen recently divided, has two names, one generally of pure native derivation, the other composed of the Chinese word shin, a province, added to the Chinese pronunciation of one of the characters with which the native name is written. In many cases the pedantic Chinese name has completely superseded the original Japanese name in the mouth of the people, in a few both are used concurrently, while in some the original name is retained."

— Satow, Ernest. (1874). "The Geography of Japan," Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan, Vol. 1-2, p. 34.

In future, to be added to this article? to other articles about the regions of Japan? --Horeki (talk) 19:01, 24 June 2012 (UTC)

Links

This is a follow-up to WP:Simple talk#Improving article quality.

Using this tool, the links in List of regions of Japan are reviewed here. --Horeki (talk) 14:09, 12 September 2012 (UTC)