Map of the regions of Japan . From northeast to southwest: Hokkaidō (red), Tōhoku (yellow), Kantō (green), Chūbu (cyan), Kansai (indigo), Chūgoku (orange), Shikoku (purple), and Kyūshū & Okinawa (grey). 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).
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 .
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