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 , or 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.
One common division groups the prefectures into eight regions. In this arrangement, three of the four main islands of Japan, namely Hokkaidō, Shikoku, and Kyūshū, each form their own region, while the largest island, Honshū, is split into five regions. Minor islands are grouped with the larger ones, for example with the Satsunan Islands being included under Kyūshū and the Tokyo Islands under Kantō. Okinawa Prefecture is usually considered part of Kyūshū, but is sometimes treated as its own ninth region.
Japan has eight High Courts, but their jurisdictions do not match the typical eight-region geographical division (see #Other regional divisions and Judicial system of Japan for details).
Table
Region Population Area in km2Japan's Regional Megamarkets - Semantic Scholar (PDF) Prefectures contained Hokkaidō 北海道(ほっかいど) 5.1 millionWhat special characteristics does Hokkaido have? from Kids Web Japan 83,000 Hokkaidō 北海道(ほっかいど) Tōhoku 東北(とうほく) 8.9 millionWhat special characteristics does the Tohoku region have? from Kids Web Japan 67,000 Akita 秋田(あきた), Aomori 青森(あおもり), Fukushima 福島(ふくしま), Iwate 岩手(いわて), Miyagi 宮城(みやぎ), Yamagata 山形(やまがた) Kantō 関東(かんとう) 43.3 millionWhat special characteristics does the Kanto region have? from Kids Web Japan 32,000 Chiba 千葉(ちば), Gunma 群馬(ぐんま), Ibaraki 茨城(いばらき), Kanagawa 神奈川(かながわ), Saitama 埼玉(さいたま), Tochigi 栃木(とちぎ), Tōkyō 東京(とうきょう) Chūbu中部(ちゅうぶ) 21.4 millionWhat special characteristics does the Chubu region have? from Kids Web Japan 67,000 Aichi 愛知(あいち), Fukui 福井(ふくい), Gifu 岐阜(ぎふけん), Ishikawa 石川(いしかわ), Nagano 長野(ながの), Niigata 新潟(にいがた), Shizuoka 静岡(しずおか), Toyama 富山(とやま), Yamanashi 山梨(やまなし) Kansai 関西(かんさい)(also known as Kinki 近畿(きんき)) 22.5 millionWhat special characteristics does the Kinki region have? from Kids Web Japan 33,000 Hyōgo 兵庫(ひょうご), Kyōto 京都(きょうと), Mie 三重(みえ), Nara 奈良(なら), Ōsaka 大阪(おおさか), Shiga 滋賀(しが), Wakayama 和歌山(わかやま) Chūgoku 中国(ちゅうごく) 7.3 millionWhat special characteristics does the Chugoku region have? from Kids Web Japan 32,000 Hiroshima 広島(ひろしま), Okayama 岡山(おかやま), Shimane 島根(しまね), Tottori 鳥取(とっとり), Yamaguchi 山口(やまぐち) Shikoku 四国(しこく) 3.8 millionWhat special characteristics does the Shikoku region have? from Kids Web Japan 19,000 Ehime 愛媛(えひめ), Kagawa 香川(かがわ), Kōchi 高知(こうち), Tokushima 徳島(とくしま) Kyūshū 九州(きゅうしゅう) & Okinawa 沖縄(おきなわ) 14.3 millionWhat special characteristics does the Kyushu-Okinawa region have? from Kids Web Japan 44,000 Fukuoka 福岡(ふくおか), Kagoshima 鹿児島(かごしま), Kumamoto 熊本(くまもと), Miyazaki 宮崎(みやざき), Nagasaki 長崎(ながさき), Ōita 大分(おおいた), Okinawa 沖縄(おきなわ), Saga 佐賀(さが)
Regions and islands This is a list of Japan's major islands, traditional regions, and subregions, going from northeast to southwest.Regions of Japan on japan-guide.comRegions of Japan on web-japan.org 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), regional groupings are used that digress from the above-mentioned common 8-region geographical division. The 8-region model is frequently regarded as a standard on the English Wikipedia and some other English-language publications. Examples of regional divisions used by other particular institutions include:
+National Police Agency regional supervisory officesNPA: 管区警察局の活動, retrieved September 24, 2021. 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 regionsNHK: 全国のNHK , retrieved September 24, 2021. 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 officesMLIT: 地方整備局, retrieved September 24, 2021. 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 regionsJMA: 天気予報等で用いる用語>地域名, retrieved September 24, 2021. 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
+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
+Regional football/soccer leagues Region Prefectures Hokkaidō Hokkaidō Tōhoku North: Aomori, Iwate, AkitaSouth: 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")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. 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
In the later stages of World War II, in preparation for an Allied invasion 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: