Regions of Japan
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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 instance, 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, Chūgoku Bank, Tohoku University, etc.). While Japan has eight High Courts, their jurisdictions do not correspond to the eight regions below.
From north to south, the traditional regions are:
- Hokkaidō (the island of Hokkaidō and nearby islands, largest city Sapporo)
- Tōhoku region (northern Honshū, largest city Sendai)
- Kantō region (eastern Honshū, largest cities Tokyo and Yokohama)
- Chūbu region (central Honshū, including Mt. Fuji), sometimes divided into:
- Hokuriku region (northwestern Chūbu)
- Koshin'etsu region (northeastern Chūbu, largest city Nagano)
- Tōkai region (southern Chūbu, largest city Nagoya, Hamamatsu, and Shizuoka)
- Chūkyō region (southwestern Chūbu, largest city Nagoya, Gifu,and Yokkaichi)
- Kansai or Kinki region (west-central Honshū, largest cities Osaka, Kobe, and Kyoto)
- Chūgoku region (western Honshū, largest city Hiroshima, and Okayama)
- Shikoku (island, largest city Matsuyama, and Takamatsu)
- Kyūshū (island, largest city Fukuoka) which includes:
- Ryūkyū Islands, including Okinawa
Each contains several prefectures, except the Hokkaidō region, which covers only Hokkaidō.
