Regions of Japan
From Freepedia
| This article is part of the series: Administrative divisions of Japan |
|---|
| Regional level |
| Regions (地方; Chihō) |
| Prefectural level |
| Prefectures (都道府県; To-dō-fu-ken ) |
| Subprefectural level |
| Subprefectures (支庁; Shichō) |
| Designated Cities (政令指定都市; Seirei-shitei-toshi) |
| Districts (郡; Gun) |
| Municipal level |
| Core Cities (中核市; Chūkaku-shi) |
| Special Cities (特例市; Tokurei-shi) |
| Cities (市; Shi) |
| Special Wards (特別区; Tokubetsu-ku) |
| Wards (区; Ku) |
| Towns (町; Chō / Machi) |
| Villages (村; Son / Mura) |
The regions of Japan are not official administrative units, but have been traditionally used as the regional division of Japan in a number of contexts: for example, maps and geography textbooks divide Japan into the eight regions, weather reports usually give the weather by region, and many businesses and institutions use their home region as part of their name (Kinki Nippon Railway, Chugoku Bank, Tohoku University, etc.). While Japan has eight High Courts, their jurisdictions do not correspond to the eight regions below.
From north to south, they are:
- Hokkaido (the island of Hokkaido and nearby islands, including Sapporo)
- Tohoku region (northern Honshu, including Sendai)
- Kanto region (eastern Honshu, including Tokyo and Yokohama)
- Chubu region (central Honshu, including Mt. Fuji), sometimes divided into:
- Hokuriku region (northwestern Chubu)
- Koshin'etsu region (northeastern Chubu, including Nagano)
- Tokai region (southern Chubu, including Nagoya)
- Kinki region (west-central Honshu, including Osaka, Kobe, and Kyoto)
- Chugoku region (western Honshu, including Hiroshima)
- Shikoku (island, including Matsuyama)
- Kyushu (island, including Fukuoka) and Okinawa
Each contains several prefectures, except the Hokkaido region, which covers only Hokkaido Prefecture.
