Prefectures of Japan Totally Explained

Everything about Prefectures Of Japan totally explained

The prefectures of Japan are the country's 47 sub-national jurisdictions: one "metropolis" (都 to), Tokyo; one "circuit" (道 dō), Hokkaidō; two urban prefectures (府 fu), Osaka and Kyoto; and 43 other prefectures (県 ken). In Japanese, they're commonly referred to as todōfuken (都道府県). Prefectures are governmental bodies larger than cities, towns, and villages. Each prefecture is led by a directly elected governor and a single-chamber parliament.
   The current system was established by the Meiji government in July 1871 with the abolition of the han system and establishment of the prefecture system (廃藩置県 haihan-chiken). Although there were initially over 300 prefectures, many of them being former han territories, this number was reduced to 72 in the latter part of 1871, and 47 in 1888. The Local Autonomy Law of 1947 gave more political power to prefectures, and installed prefectural governors and parliaments.
   In 2003, then-Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi proposed that the government consolidate the current prefectures into about 10 regional states. The plan called for each region to have greater autonomy than existing prefectures. This process will reduce the number of sub-prefecture administrative regions, and is expected to cut administrative costs. The Japanese government is also considering a plan by which several groups of prefectures would merge, creating a sub-national administrative division system consisting of between nine and thirteen states, and giving these states more local autonomy than the current prefectures enjoy. As of December 2007, no reorganization has taken place.
   Under the current Local Autonomy Law, each prefecture is further subdivided into cities (市 shi) and districts (郡 gun). Each district is further subdivided into towns (町 chō or machi) and villages (村 son or mura). Hokkaidō has 14 subprefectures and those act as branch offices (支庁 shichō) of the prefecture. Some other prefectures also have branch offices, which carry out prefectural administrative functions outside the capital.

Types of prefectures

To, dō, fu, and ken differ in name only for historical reasons. Since 1947, there's no administrative difference between the four types. Usually, prefectures are called by their name only, without the suffix, except for Hokkaidō. However, the suffix is used when it's necessary to distinguish between the prefecture and a city of the same name. For example, Hiroshima-ken is the Japanese name of the prefecture, and Hiroshima-shi is its largest city.

Fu (Osaka/Kyoto) and Ken

During the Edo period, the bakufu established bugyō-ruled zones (奉行支配地) around the nine largest cities in Japan, and 302 township-ruled zones (郡代支配地) elsewhere. When the Meiji government began to create the prefectural system in 1868, the first year of Meiji period, while the nine bugyō-ruled zones became fu, the township-ruled zones and the rest of the bugyo-ruled zones became ken: later, in 1871 the government designated Tokyo, Osaka, and Kyoto as fu, and relegated the other fu to the status of ken. During World War II, in 1943, Tokyo became a to, a new type of pseudo-prefecture (see below).
Before World War II, different laws applied to fu and ken, but this distinction was abolished after the war, and the two types of prefecture are now functionally the same. As a result, the English language doesn't usually distinguish between fu and ken, calling both simply "prefectures".

Hokkaidō

The term dō (circuit) was originally used to refer to regions of Japan, such as Tōkaidō and Saikaidō, consisting of several provinces. It uses the kanji for "road" and is considered to have been settled by Emperor Temmu. Hokkaidō, the only remaining dō today, wasn't one of the original seven dō (it was known as Ezo in the pre-modern era). Its current name is believed to originate from Matsuura Takeshiro, an early Japanese explorer of the island. Since Hokkaidō didn't fit into the existing dō classifications, a new dō was created to cover it.
   The Meiji government originally classified Hokkaidō as a "Settlement Envoyship" (開拓使 kaitakushi), and later divided the island into three prefectures (Sapporo, Hakodate, and Nemuro). These were consolidated into a single Hokkaidō prefecture in 1886. The -ken suffix was never added to its name, so the -dō suffix became understood to mean "prefecture".
   When Hokkaidō was incorporated, transportation on the island was still very underdeveloped, so the prefecture was split into several "sub-prefectures" (支庁 shichō) that could fulfill administrative duties of the prefectural government and keep tight control over the developing island. These sub-prefectures still exist today, although they've much less power than they possessed before and during World War II: they now exist primarily to handle paperwork and other bureaucratic functions.
   "Hokkaidō Prefecture" is, technically speaking, a redundant term, although it's occasionally used to differentiate the government from the island itself. The government of the prefecture calls itself the "Hokkaidō Government" rather than the "Hokkaidō Prefectural Government".
   The largest city and prefectural capital of Hokkaidō is Sapporo, the fifth largest city in Japan. Other major cities include Hakodate.

Tokyo-to

The only to in Japan is Tokyo. Following the abolition of the han system, Tokyo-fu (an urban prefecture like Kyoto and Osaka) encompassed a number of cities, the largest of which was Tokyo City. Tokyo City was divided into 15 wards.
   In 1943, Tokyo City was abolished, Tokyo-fu became Tokyo-to, and Tokyo's wards became the special wards, local authorities falling directly under the prefecture in hierarchy, each with their own elected assemblies (kugikai) and mayors (kucho). A number of suburban villages and towns of Tokyo City were changed to wards, bringing the total number of special wards to 35.
   The reason for this reorganization was to consolidate the administration of the area around the capital by eliminating the extra level of authority in Tokyo. The central government wanted to have a greater degree of control over Tokyo due to Japan's deteriorating position in World War II and the possibility of emergency in the metropolis.
   After the war, Japan was forced to decentralize Tokyo again, following the general terms of democratization outlined in the Potsdam Declaration. Many of Tokyo's special governmental characteristics disappeared during this time, and the wards took on an increasingly municipal status in the decades following the surrender. Administratively, today's special wards are almost indistinguishable from other municipalities.
   The postwar reforms also changed the map of Tokyo significantly. In 1947, the 35 wards were reorganized into the 23 special wards, because many had died in the bombardments during the war, many survivors had left the city, and many men who had been drafted hadn't returned.
   There are some differences in terminology between Tokyo and other prefectures: police and fire departments are called chō (庁) instead of honbu (本部), for instance. However, the only functional difference between Tokyo-to and other prefectures is that Tokyo administers wards as well as cities. Today, since the special wards have almost the same degree of independence as Japanese cities, the difference in administration between Tokyo and other prefectures is fairly minor (see 23 special wards for details).
   The Japanese government still translates Tokyo-to as "Tokyo Metropolis" in almost all cases, and the government is officially called the "Tokyo Metropolitan Government". However, some people still call Tokyo-to "Tokyo Prefecture" in English.

Lists of prefectures

List in ISO Order

order and the regions of Japan.]] The prefectures are also often grouped into regions. Those regions are not formally specified, they don't have elected officials, nor are they corporate bodies. However, the practice of ordering prefectures based on their geographic location is common. From north to south (numbering in order), the prefectures of Japan and their commonly associated regions are:

Hokkaidō

1. Hokkaidō
Tōhoku

2. Aomori
3. Iwate
4. Miyagi
5. Akita
6. Yamagata
7. Fukushima
Kantō

8. Ibaraki
9. Tochigi
10. Gunma
11. Saitama
12. Chiba
13. Tokyo
14. Kanagawa

Chūbu

15. Niigata
16. Toyama
17. Ishikawa
18. Fukui
19. Yamanashi
20. Nagano
21. Gifu
22. Shizuoka
23. Aichi
Kansai

24. Mie
25. Shiga
26. Kyoto
27. Osaka
28. Hyōgo
29. Nara
30. Wakayama

Chūgoku

31. Tottori
32. Shimane
33. Okayama
34. Hiroshima
35. Yamaguchi
Shikoku

36. Tokushima
37. Kagawa
38. Ehime
39. Kōchi
Kyūshū & Okinawa

40. Fukuoka
41. Saga
42. Nagasaki
43. Kumamoto
44. Ōita
45. Miyazaki
46. Kagoshima
47. Okinawa

Karafuto, a portion of the island of Sakhalin north of Hokkaidō (not shown on the map), was part of Japan from 1907 until World War II. The entire island is now governed by Russia, but some Japanese people claim Karafuto is still part of Japan.

List in alphabetical order

Japanese	Capital	Region	Island	Population¹	Area²	Density³	Distr.	Municip.
愛知県	Nagoya	Chūbu	Honshū	7,043,235	5,153.81	1,366	15	88	JP-23
秋田県	Akita	Tōhoku	Honshū	1,189,215	11,612.11	102	8	29	JP-05
青森県	Aomori	Tōhoku	Honshū	1,475,635	9,606.26	154	8	61	JP-02
千葉県	Chiba	Kantō	Honshū	5,926,349	5,156.15	1,149	9	80	JP-12
愛媛県	Matsuyama	Shikoku	Shikoku	1,493,126	5,676.44	263	7	28	JP-38
福井県	Fukui	Chūbu	Honshū	828,960	4,188.76	198	10	29	JP-18
福岡県	Fukuoka	Kyūshū	Kyūshū	5,015,666	4,971.01	1,009	17	91	JP-40
福島県	Fukushima	Tōhoku	Honshū	2,126,998	13,782.54	154	14	85	JP-07
岐阜県	Gifu	Chūbu	Honshū	2,107,687	10,598.18	199	11	49	JP-21
群馬県	Maebashi	Kantō	Honshū	2,024,820	6,363.16	318	12	61	JP-10
広島県	Hiroshima	Chūgoku	Honshū	2,878,949	8,476.95	340	10	37	JP-34
北海道	Sapporo	Hokkaidō	Hokkaidō	5,682,950	83,452.47	68	66	207	JP-01
兵庫県	Kobe	Kansai	Honshū	5,550,742	8,392.42	661	13	60	JP-28
茨城県	Mito	Kantō	Honshū	2,985,424	6,095.62	490	13	61	JP-08
石川県	Kanazawa	Chūbu	Honshū	1,180,935	4,185.32	282	7	25	JP-17
岩手県	Morioka	Tōhoku	Honshū	1,416,198	15,278.51	93	12	46	JP-03
香川県	Takamatsu	Shikoku	Shikoku	1,022,843	1,861.70	549	5	17	JP-37
鹿児島県	Kagoshima	Kyūshū	Kyūshū	1,786,214	9,132.42	196	11	49	JP-46
神奈川県	Yokohama	Kantō	Honshū	8,489,932	2,415.42	3,515	7	35	JP-14
高知県	Kōchi	Shikoku	Shikoku	813,980	7,104.70	115	6	35	JP-39
熊本県	Kumamoto	Kyūshū	Kyūshū	1,859,451	6,908.45	269	10	48	JP-43
京都府	Kyoto	Kansai	Honshū	2,644,331	4,612.93	573	6	28	JP-26
三重県	Tsu	Kansai	Honshū	1,857,365	5760.72	322	7	29	JP-24
宮城県	Sendai	Tōhoku	Honshū	2,365,204	6,861.51	325	10	36	JP-04
宮崎県	Miyazaki	Kyūshū	Kyūshū	1,170,023	6,684.67	175	8	30	JP-45
長野県	Nagano	Chūbu	Honshū	2,214,409	12,598.48	163	16	120	JP-20
長崎県	Nagasaki	Kyūshū	Kyūshū	1,516,536	4,092.80	371	9	79	JP-42
奈良県	Nara	Kansai	Honshū	1,442,862	3,691.09	391	8	47	JP-29
新潟県	Niigata	Chūbu	Honshū	2,475,724	12,582.37	197	16	111	JP-15
大分県	Ōita	Kyūshū	Kyūshū	1,221,128	5,804.24	210	12	58	JP-44
岡山県	Okayama	Chūgoku	Honshū	1,950,656	7,008.63	278	18	78	JP-33
沖縄県	Naha	Kyūshū	Ryūkyū Islands	1,318,281	2,271.30	580	5	41	JP-47
大阪府	Osaka	Kansai	Honshū	8,804,806	1,893.18	4,652	5	44	JP-27
佐賀県	Saga	Kyūshū	Kyūshū	876,664	2,439.23	359	8	49	JP-41
埼玉県	Saitama	Kantō	Honshū	6,938,004	3,767.09	1,827	9	90	JP-11
滋賀県	Otsu	Kansai	Honshū	1,342,811	4,017.36	334	11	50	JP-25
島根県	Matsue	Chūgoku	Honshū	761,499	6,707.32	114	12	59	JP-32
静岡県	Shizuoka	Chūbu	Honshū	3,767,427	7,328.61	484	12	74	JP-22
栃木県	Utsunomiya	Kantō	Honshū	2,004,787	6,408.28	313	7	33	JP-09
徳島県	Tokushima	Shikoku	Shikoku	823,997	4,145.26	199	10	50	JP-36
東京都	Shinjuku	Kantō	Honshū	12,059,237	2,187.08	5,514	1	39	JP-13
鳥取県	Tottori	Chūgoku	Honshū	613,229	3,507.19	175	6	39	JP-31
富山県	Toyama	Chūbu	Honshū	1,120,843	4,247.22	264	6	27	JP-16
和歌山県	Wakayama	Kansai	Honshū	1,069,839	4,725.55	226	7	50	JP-30
山形県	Yamagata	Tōhoku	Honshū	1,244,040	9,323.34	133	9	44	JP-06
山口県	Yamaguchi	Chūgoku	Honshū	1,528,107	6,110.76	250	11	56	JP-35
山梨県	Kofu	Chūbu	Honshū	888,170	4,465.37	199	8	64	JP-19

Notes: ¹ as of 2000; ² km²; ³ per km²

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