List of regions of Japan explained

Japan is divided into eight regions. 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, for example Kinki Nippon Railway, Chūgoku Bank, and Tōhoku University.

Each region contains one or more of the country's 47 prefectures. 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 regions (see Judicial system of Japan for details).

Table

Region	Population	Area in km^2^[4]	Prefectures contained
	5.4 million^[5]	83,000	Hokkaidō
	8.9 million^[6]	67,000	Akita, Aomori, Fukushima, Iwate, Miyagi, Yamagata
	43.3 million^[7]	32,000	Chiba, Gunma, Ibaraki, Kanagawa, Saitama, Tochigi, Tōkyō
	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
	7.3 million^[10]	32,000	Hiroshima, Okayama, Shimane, Tottori, Yamaguchi
	3.8 million^[11]	19,000	Ehime, Kagawa, Kōchi, Tokushima
	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

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
	Hokkaidō
	Aomori, Iwate, Miyagi, Akita, Yamagata, Fukushima
	Tokyo, Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma, Saitama, Chiba, Kanagawa, Niigata, Yamanashi, Nagano, Shizuoka
	Aichi, Mie, Gifu, Ishikawa, Fukui, Toyama
	Shiga, Kyoto, Osaka, Hyōgo, Nara, Wakayama
	Tottori, Shimane, Okayama, Hiroshima, Yamaguchi
	Tokushima, Kagawa, Ehime, Kōchi
	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, 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

See also

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

Notes and References

1. Web site: Regions . 2021-02-14 . 2020-07-27 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200727150921/http://www.travelwithamnet.com/regions . dead .
2. https://www.japan-guide.com/list/e1001.html Regions of Japan
3. https://www.jrpass.com/blog/a-guide-to-the-regions-of-japan A Guide to the Regions of Japan
4. https://web.archive.org/web/20190226151644/http://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/7309/6877bbd0534110c40c6881b7ae075991557f.pdf Japan's Regional Megamarkets - Semantic Scholar
5. https://web-japan.org/kidsweb/explore/regions/q2.html What special characteristics does Hokkaido have?
6. https://web-japan.org/kidsweb/explore/regions/q3.html What special characteristics does the Tohoku region have?
7. https://web-japan.org/kidsweb/explore/regions/q4.html What special characteristics does the Kanto region have?
8. https://web-japan.org/kidsweb/explore/regions/q5.html What special characteristics does the Chubu region have?
9. https://web-japan.org/kidsweb/explore/regions/q6.html What special characteristics does the Kinki region have?
10. https://web-japan.org/kidsweb/explore/regions/chugoku.html What special characteristics does the Chugoku region have?
11. https://web-japan.org/kidsweb/explore/regions/q8.html What special characteristics does the Shikoku region have?
12. https://web-japan.org/kidsweb/explore/regions/q9.html What special characteristics does the Kyushu-Okinawa region have?
13. http://www.japan-guide.com/list/e1001.html Regions of Japan on japan-guide.com
14. http://web-japan.org/kidsweb/explore/regions/ 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, 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.