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Prefectures of Japan


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Prefecture
.mw-parser-output .nobold{font-weight:normal}
都道府県
Todōfuken
Regions and Prefectures of Japan 2.svg
Category Unitary State
Location Japan
Number 47
Populations 560,517 (Tottori) – 13,843,403 (Tōkyō)
Areas 1,861.7 km2 (718.8 sq mi) (Kagawa) – 83,453.6 km2 (32,221.6 sq mi) (Hokkaido)
Government Prefecture Government, Central Government
Subdivisions Subprefectures

Japan is divided into 47 prefectures (都道府県, Todōfuken), forming the first level of jurisdiction and administrative division. They consist of 43 prefectures (, ken) proper, two urban prefectures (, fu, Osaka and Kyoto), one "circuit" or "territory" (, , Hokkaido) and one "metropolis" (, to, Tokyo).
The Meiji Fuhanken sanchisei administration created the first prefectures (urban -fu and rural -ken) from 1868 to replace the urban and rural administrators (bugyō, daikan, etc.) in the parts of the country previously controlled directly by the shogunate and a few territories of rebels/shogunate loyalists who had not submitted to the new government such as Aizu/Wakamatsu. In 1871, all remaining feudal domains (han) were also transformed into prefectures, so that prefectures subdivided the whole country. In several waves of territorial consolidation, today's 47 prefectures were formed by the turn of the century. In many instances, these are contiguous with the ancient ritsuryō provinces of Japan.[1]


Each prefecture's chief executive is a directly-elected governor (知事, chiji). Ordinances and budgets are enacted by a unicameral assembly (議会, gikai) whose members are elected for four-year terms.


Under a set of 1888–1890 laws on local government[2] until the 1920s, each prefecture (then only 3 -fu and 42 -ken; Hokkai-dō and Okinawa-ken were subject to different laws until the 20th century) was subdivided into cities (, shi) and districts (, gun) and each district into towns (, chō/machi) and villages (, son/mura). Hokkaido has 14 subprefectures that act as branch offices (総合振興局, sōgō-shinkō-kyoku) and branch offices (振興局, shinkō-kyoku) of the prefecture. Some other prefectures also have branch offices that carry out prefectural administrative functions outside the capital. Tokyo, the capital of Japan, is a merged city-prefecture; a metropolis, it has features of both cities and prefectures.




Contents






  • 1 Prefectures under the Local Autonomy Law


  • 2 Background


  • 3 Powers


  • 4 Types of prefecture


    • 4.1 Fu


    • 4.2 Ken


    • 4.3


    • 4.4 To




  • 5 Lists of prefectures


    • 5.1 By Japanese ISO


    • 5.2 By English name




  • 6 Former prefectures


    • 6.1 1870s


    • 6.2 1880s


    • 6.3 Territories lost after World War II




  • 7 See also


    • 7.1 General




  • 8 References


  • 9 External links





Prefectures under the Local Autonomy Law[edit]


Under chapter 8 of the postwar constitution and the 1947 Local Autonomy Law, Japan is subdivided into 47 prefectures (1 -to, 1 -dō, 2 -fu, 43 -ken), largely equal in autonomy although the [Tōkyō]-to retains some additional municipal authority for part of its territory (former Tokyo City), and there is central government intervention in its own autonomy (police chief) because of its capital functions. All prefectures are further subdivided into municipalities: cities (-shi), towns (-machi/-chō), villages (-mura/-son) and [special] wards ([tokubetsu]-ku; not to be confused with the wards of designated cities, the latter are administrative subdivisions below municipalities). The institutions – a chief executive and a legislative assembly directly elected separately for four-year terms – and mechanisms – by-laws/ordinances, jōrei, executive ordinances, kisoku, popular petitions, initiatives and recalls, chokusetsu seikyū (lit. "direct demands") – of local autonomy are largely the same for all prefectures and municipalities, but the extent of municipal autonomy varies by type, in descending order: three special forms for large cities (major cities designated by government order, core cities, special case cities), ordinary cities, towns & villages. The special wards are in a special category: In some areas (e.g. municipal elections), they are treated like major cities, in others (taxation), they have less autonomy than villages.


Prefectural government functions include the organization of the 47 prefectural police forces, the supervision of schools and the maintenance of prefectural schools (mainly high schools), prefectural hospitals, prefectural roads, the supervision of prefectural waterways and regional urban planning. Their responsibilities include tasks delegated to them by the national government such as maintaining most ordinary national roads (except in designated major cities), and prefectures coordinate and support their municipalities in their functions. De facto, prefectures as well as municipalities have often been less autonomous than the formal extent of the local autonomy law suggests because most of them depend heavily on central government funding – a dependency recently further exacerbated in many regions by the demographic transition which hits rural areas harder/earlier as cities can offset it partly through migration from the countryside –, and because in many policy areas, the basic framework is set tightly by national laws, and prefectures and municipalities are only autonomous within that framework. In recent decades, there have been several reforms to try to reduce the fiscal dependency of local governments. By fiscal 2007, prefectural and municipal taxes constituted 43.3% of the total tax revenue, while prefectural and municipal governments accounted for 58.9% of total government spending; central government transfers and loans still cover a substantial part of local expenditures.[3][4][5][6]



Background[edit]





















Administrative divisions
of Japan

Prefectural

Prefectures

Sub-prefectural


  • Subprefectures

  • Districts



Municipal


  • Designated cities

  • Core cities

  • Special cities

  • Cities

  • Special wards (Tokyo)

  • Towns

  • Villages



Sub-municipal

  • Wards


The West's use of "prefecture" to label these Japanese regions stems from 16th-century Portuguese explorers' and traders' use of "prefeitura" to describe the fiefdoms they encountered there. Its original sense in Portuguese, however, was closer to "municipality" than "province". Today, in turn, Japan uses its word ken (), meaning "prefecture", to identify Portuguese districts while in Brazil the word "Prefeitura" is used to refer to a city hall.


Those fiefs were headed by a local warlord or family. Though the fiefs have long since been dismantled, merged, and reorganized multiple times, and been granted legislative governance and oversight, the rough translation stuck.


The Meiji government established the current system 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, 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 would reduce the number of subprefecture administrative regions and cut administrative costs.[7] The Japanese government is also considering a plan to merge several groups of prefectures, creating a subnational administrative division system consisting of between nine and 13 states, and giving these states more local autonomy than the prefectures currently enjoy.[8] As of August 2012[update], no reorganization has been scheduled.



Powers[edit]



Japan is a unitary state. The central government delegates many functions (such as education and the police force) to the prefectures and municipalities, but retains the overall right to control them. Although local government expenditure accounts for 70 percent of overall government expenditure, the central government controls local budgets, tax rates, and borrowing.[9]



Types of prefecture[edit]


Historically, during the Edo period, the Tokugawa shogunate 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 nine bugyō-ruled zones became fu (), while 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.


Despite the differences in terminology, there is little functional difference between the four types of local governments. The subnational governments are sometimes collectively referred to as to-dō-fu-ken (都道府県) in Japanese, which is a simple combination of the four terms.



Fu[edit]



Osaka and Kyoto Prefectures are referred to as fu (). The Classical Chinese character from which this is derived implies a core urban zone of national importance. 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.



Ken[edit]


43 of the 47 prefectures are referred to as ken (). The Classical Chinese character from which this is derived carries a rural or provincial connotation, and an analogous character is used to refer to the counties of China, counties of Taiwan and districts of Vietnam.



[edit]


Hokkaido is referred to as a () or circuit. This term was originally used to refer to Japanese regions consisting of several provinces (e.g. the Tōkaidō east-coast region, and Saikaido west-coast region). This was also a historical usage of the character in China. (In Korea, this historical usage is still used today and was kept during the period of Japanese rule.)


Hokkaido, the only remaining today, was not one of the original seven (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 Hokkaido did not fit into the existing classifications, a new was created to cover it.


The Meiji government originally classified Hokkaido 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 Hokkaido Department (北海道庁, Hokkaido-chō) in 1886, at prefectural level but organized more along the lines of a territory. In 1947, the department was dissolved, and Hokkaido became a full-fledged prefecture. The -ken suffix was never added to its name, so the -dō suffix came to be understood to mean "prefecture."


When Hokkaido was incorporated, transportation on the island was still underdeveloped, so the prefecture was split into several "subprefectures" (支庁, shichō) that could fulfill administrative duties of the prefectural government and keep tight control over the developing island. These subprefectures still exist today, although they have much less power than they possessed before and during World War II. They now exist primarily to handle paperwork and other bureaucratic functions.


"Hokkaido Prefecture" is, technically speaking, a redundant term because itself indicates a prefecture, although it is occasionally used to differentiate the government from the island itself. The prefecture's government calls itself the "Hokkaido Government" rather than the "Hokkaido Prefectural Government".



To[edit]


Tokyo is referred to as to (), which is often translated as "metropolis." The Japanese government translates Tōkyō-to as "Tokyo Metropolis" in almost all cases, and the government is officially called the "Tokyo Metropolitan Government".


Following the capitulation of shogunate Edo in 1868, Tōkyō-fu (an urban prefecture like Kyoto and Osaka) was set up and encompassed the former city area of Edo under the Fuhanken sanchisei. After the abolition of the han system in the first wave of prefectural mergers in 1871/72, several surrounding areas (parts of Urawa, Kosuge, Shinagawa and Hikone prefectures) were merged into Tokyo, and under the system of (numbered) "large districts and small districts" (daiku-shōku), it was subdivided into eleven large districts further subdivided into 103 small districts, six of the large districts (97 small districts) covered the former city area of Edo.[10] When the ancient ritsuryō districts were reactivated as administrative units in 1878, Tokyo was subdivided into 15 [urban] districts (-ku) and initially six [rural] districts (-gun; nine after the Tama transfer from Kanagawa in 1893, eight after the merger of East Tama and South Toshima into Toyotama in 1896). Both urban and rural districts, like everywhere in the country, were further subdivided into urban units/towns/neighbourhoods (-chō/-machi) and rural units/villages (-mura/-son). The yet unincorporated communities on the Izu (previously part of Shizuoka) and Ogasawara (previously directly Home Ministry-administrated) island groups became also part of Tokyo in the 19th century. When the modern municipalities – [district-independent] cities and [rural] districts containing towns and villages – were introduced under the Yamagata-Mosse laws on local government and the simultaneous Great Meiji merger was performed in 1889, the 15 -ku became wards of Tokyo City, initially Tokyo's only independent city (-shi), the six rural districts of Tokyo were consolidated in 85 towns and villages.[11] In 1893, the three Tama districts and their 91 towns and villages became part of Tokyo. As Tokyo city's suburbs grew rapidly in the early 20th century, many towns and villages in Tokyo were merged or promoted over the years. In 1932, five complete districts with their 82 towns and villages were merged into Tokyo City and organized in 20 new wards. Also, by 1940, there were two more cities in Tokyo: Hachiōji City and Tachikawa City.


In 1943, Tokyo City was abolished, Tōkyō-fu became Tōkyō-to, and Tokyo's 35 wards remained Tokyo's 35 wards, submunicipal authorities falling directly under the municipality, but since the municipality was abolished, Tokyo's wards fell directly under prefectural or now "Metropolitan" authority. All other cities, towns and villages in Tokyo stayed cities, towns and villages in Tokyo. The reorganization's aim was to consolidate the administration of the area around the capital by eliminating the extra level of authority in Tokyo. Also, the governor was no longer called chiji, but chōkan (~"head/chief [usually: of a central government agency]") as in Hokkaidō). The central government wanted to have greater control over all local governments due to Japan's deteriorating position in World War II – for example, all mayors in the country became appointive as in the Meiji era – and over Tokyo in particular, due to 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 of its citizens had either died during the war, left the city, or been drafted and didn't return.[citation needed] In the occupation reforms, special wards, each with their own elected assemblies (kugikai) and mayors (kuchō), were intended to be equal to other municipalities even if some restrictions still applied. (For example, there was during the occupation a dedicated municipal police agency for the 23 special wards/former Tokyo City, yet the special wards public safety commission was not named by the special ward governments, but by the government of the whole "Metropolis". In 1954, independent municipal police forces were abolished generally in the whole country, and the prefectural/"Metropolitan" police of Tokyo is again responsible for the whole prefecture/"Metropolis" and like all prefectural police forces controlled by the prefectural/"Metropolitan" public safety commission whose members are appointed by the prefectural/"Metropolitan" governor and assembly.) But, as part of the "reverse course" of the 1950s some of these new rights were removed, the most obvious measure being the denial of directly elected mayors. Some of these restrictions were removed again over the decades. But it was not until the year 2000 that the special wards were fully recognized as municipal-level entities.


Independently from these steps, as Tokyo's urban growth again took up pace during the postwar economic miracle and most of the main island part of Tokyo "Metropolis" became increasingly core part of the Tokyo metropolitan area, many of the other municipalities in Tokyo have transferred some of their authority to the Metropolitan government. For example, the Tokyo Fire Department which was only responsible for the 23 special wards until 1960 has until today taken over the municipal fire departments in almost all of Tokyo. A joint governmental structure for the whole Tokyo metropolitan area (and not only the western suburbs of the special wardswhich are part of the Tokyo prefecture/Metropolis") as advocated by some politicians such as former Kanagawa governor Shigefumi Matsuzawa[12] has not been established (see also Dōshūsei). Existing cross-prefectural fora of cooperation between local governments in the Tokyo metropolitan area are the Kantō regional governors' association (Kantō chihō chijikai)[13][14] and the "Shutoken summit" (formally "conference of chief executives of nine prefectures and cities", 9 to-ken-shi shunō kaigi).[15] But, these are not themselves local public entities under the local autonomy law and national or local government functions cannot be directly transferred to them, unlike the "Union of Kansai governments" (Kansai kōiki-rengō)[16] which has been established by several prefectural governments in the Kansai region.


There are some differences in terminology between Tokyo and other prefectures: police and fire departments are called chō () instead of honbu (本部), for instance. But the only functional difference between Tōkyō-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.


In Osaka, several prominent politicians led by Tōru Hashimoto, then mayor of Osaka City and former governor of Osaka Prefecture, proposed an Osaka Metropolis plan, under which Osaka City, and possibly other neighboring cities, would be replaced by special wards similar to Tokyo's. The plan was narrowly defeated in a 2015 referendum.



Lists of prefectures[edit]




Hokkaidō
Aomori
Akita
Iwate
Yamagata
Miyagi
Niigata
Fukushima
Ibaraki
Tochigi
Chiba
Gunma
Saitama
Tōkyō
Kanagawa
Tōkyō
Kanagawa
Okinawa
Yamanashi
Shizuoka
Nagano
Toyama
Gifu
Aichi
Ishikawa
Fukui
Shiga
Mie
Kyōto
Ōsaka
Nara
Ōsaka
Wakayama
Hyōgo
Tottori
Okayama
Shimane
Hiroshima
Yamaguchi
Kagawa
Tokushima
Kōchi
Ehime
Fukuoka
Ōita
Miyazaki
Saga
Nagasaki
Kumamoto
Kagoshima
Prefectures of Japan


The different systems of parsing frame the ways in which Japanese prefectures are perceived:



By Japanese ISO[edit]


The prefectures are also often grouped into eight regions (Chihō). Those regions are not formally specified, they do not have elected officials, nor are they corporate bodies. But the practice of ordering prefectures based on their geographic region is traditional.[1] This ordering is mirrored in Japan's International Organization for Standardization (ISO) coding.[17] From north to south (numbering in ISO 3166-2:JP order), the prefectures of Japan and their commonly associated regions are:























Hokkaidō Tōhoku Kantō Chūbu Kansai Chūgoku Shikoku
Kyūshū

1. Hokkaidō



2. Aomori

3. Iwate

4. Miyagi

5. Akita

6. Yamagata

7. Fukushima



8. Ibaraki

9. Tochigi

10. Gunma

11. Saitama

12. Chiba

13. Tōkyō

14. Kanagawa



15. Niigata

16. Toyama

17. Ishikawa

18. Fukui

19. Yamanashi

20. Nagano

21. Gifu

22. Shizuoka

23. Aichi



24. Mie

25. Shiga

26. Kyōto

27. Ōsaka

28. Hyōgo

29. Nara

30. Wakayama



31. Tottori

32. Shimane

33. Okayama

34. Hiroshima

35. Yamaguchi



36. Tokushima

37. Kagawa

38. Ehime

39. Kōchi



40. Fukuoka

41. Saga

42. Nagasaki

43. Kumamoto

44. Ōita

45. Miyazaki

46. Kagoshima

47. Okinawa




By English name[edit]


The default alphabetic order in this sortable table can be altered to mirror the traditional Japanese regions and ISO parsing.



































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































Prefecture

Kanji

Capital

Region

Major Island

Population¹

Area²

Density³

Distr.

Municip.

ISO

Area code

 Aichi

愛知県

Nagoya

Chūbu

Honshu
7,484,094
5,172.4
1,446.9
7
54
JP-23
052

 Akita

秋田県

Akita

Tōhoku

Honshu
1,022,839
11,637.54
87.9
6
25
JP-05
018

 Aomori

青森県

Aomori

Tōhoku

Honshu
1,308,649
9,645.4
135.7
8
40
JP-02
017

 Chiba

千葉県

Chiba

Kantō

Honshu
6,224,027
5,157.64
1,206.8
6
54
JP-12
043

 Ehime

愛媛県

Matsuyama

Shikoku

Shikoku
1,385,840
5,676.1
244.2
7
20
JP-38
089

 Fukui

福井県

Fukui

Chūbu

Honshu
787,099
4,190.43
187.8
7
17
JP-18
077

 Fukuoka

福岡県

Fukuoka

Kyushu

Kyushu
5,102,871
4,986.4
1,023.4
12
60
JP-40
092

 Fukushima

福島県

Fukushima

Tōhoku

Honshu
1,913,606
13,783.75
138.8
13
59
JP-07
024

 Gifu

岐阜県

Gifu

Chūbu

Honshu
2,032,533
10,621.29
191.4
9
42
JP-21
058

 Gunma

群馬県

Maebashi

Kantō

Honshu
1,973,476
6,362.28
310.2
7
35
JP-10
027

 Hiroshima

広島県

Hiroshima

Chūgoku

Honshu
2,844,963
8,479.38
335.5
5
23
JP-34
082

 Hokkaido

北海道

Sapporo

Hokkaido

Hokkaido
5,383,579
83,424.22
68.6
66
180
JP-01
011–016

 Hyōgo

兵庫県

Kōbe

Kansai

Honshu
5,536,989
8,400.9
659.1
8
41
JP-28
017

 Ibaraki

茨城県

Mito

Kantō

Honshu
2,917,857
6,096.93
478.6
7
44
JP-08
029

 Ishikawa

石川県

Kanazawa

Chūbu

Honshu
1,154,343
4,186.15
275.8
5
19
JP-17
076

 Iwate

岩手県

Morioka

Tōhoku

Honshu
1,279,814
15,275.01
83.8
10
33
JP-03
019

 Kagawa

香川県

Takamatsu

Shikoku

Shikoku
976,756
1,876.73
520.5
5
17
JP-37
087

 Kagoshima

鹿児島県

Kagoshima

Kyushu

Kyushu
1,648,752
9,188.1
179.4
8
43
JP-46
099

 Kanagawa

神奈川県

Yokohama

Kantō

Honshu
9,127,323
2,415.81
3,778.2
6
33
JP-14
045

Kochi Kōchi

高知県

KochiKōchi

Shikoku

Shikoku
728,461
7,103.91
102.5
6
34
JP-39
088

 Kumamoto

熊本県

Kumamoto

Kyushu

Kyushu
1,786,969
7,409.32
241.2
9
45
JP-43
099

 Kyoto

京都府

Kyoto

Kansai

Honshu
2,610,140
4,612.2
565.9
6
26
JP-26
017

 Mie

三重県

Tsu

Kansai

Honshu
1,815,827
5,774.39
314.5
7
29
JP-24
059

 Miyagi

宮城県

Sendai

Tōhoku

Honshu
2,334,215
7,282.14
320.5
10
35
JP-04
022

 Miyazaki

宮崎県

Miyazaki

Kyushu

Kyushu
1,104,377
7,735.31
142.8
6
26
JP-45
098

 Nagano

長野県

Nagano

Chūbu

Honshu
2,099,759
13,561.56
154.8
14
77
JP-20
026

 Nagasaki

長崎県

Nagasaki

Kyushu

Kyushu
1,377,780
4,132.32
333.4
4
21
JP-42
095

 Nara

奈良県

Nara

Kansai

Honshu
1,365,008
3,690.94
369.8
7
39
JP-29
074

 Niigata

新潟県

Niigata

Chūbu

Honshu
2,305,098
12,584.1
183.2
9
30
JP-15
025

Oita Ōita

大分県

OitaŌita

Kyushu

Kyushu
1,166,729
6,340.61
184
3
18
JP-44
097

 Okayama

岡山県

Okayama

Chūgoku

Honshu
1,922,181
7,114.62
270.2
10
27
JP-33
086

 Okinawa

沖縄県

Naha

Kyushu

Ryukyu Islands
1,434,138
2,281
628.7
5
41
JP-47
098

 Osaka

大阪府

Ōsaka

Kansai

Honshu
8,838,908
1,904.99
4,639.9
5
43
JP-27
06x

 Saga

佐賀県

Saga

Kyushu

Kyushu
833,245
2,440.64
341.4
6
20
JP-41
095

 Saitama

埼玉県

Saitama

Kantō

Honshu
7,261,271
3,797.75
1,912
8
63
JP-11
048

 Shiga

滋賀県

Ōtsu

Kansai

Honshu
1,413,184
4,017.38
351.8
3
19
JP-25
077

 Shimane

島根県

Matsue

Chūgoku

Honshu
694,188
6,708.23
103.5
5
19
JP-32
085

 Shizuoka

静岡県

Shizuoka

Chūbu

Honshu
3,701,181
7,778.7
475.8
5
35
JP-22
054

 Tochigi

栃木県

Utsunomiya

Kantō

Honshu
1,974,671
6,408.09
308.2
5
26
JP-09
028

 Tokushima

徳島県

Tokushima

Shikoku

Shikoku
756,063
4,146.93
182.3
8
24
JP-36
088

 Tokyo

東京都

Tokyo[18]

Kantō

Honshu
13,513,734
2,190.9
6,168.1
1
39
JP-13
03x
042

 Tottori

鳥取県

Tottori

Chūgoku

Honshu
573,648
3,507.05
163.6
5
19
JP-31
085

 Toyama

富山県

Toyama

Chūbu

Honshu
1,066,883
4,247.61
251.2
2
15
JP-16
076

 Wakayama

和歌山県

Wakayama

Kansai

Honshu
963,850
4,724.68
204
6
30
JP-30
073

 Yamagata

山形県

Yamagata

Tōhoku

Honshu
1,122,957
9,323.15
120.4
8
35
JP-06
023

 Yamaguchi

山口県

Yamaguchi

Chūgoku

Honshu
1,405,007
6,112.3
229.9
4
19
JP-35
083

 Yamanashi

山梨県

Kōfu

Chūbu

Honshu
835,165
4,464.99
187
5
27
JP-19
055


Notes: ¹ as of 2015; ² km²; ³ per km²




Former prefectures[edit]



1870s[edit]


See this Japanese Wikipedia article for all the changes in that period.



1880s[edit]





























































































































































































Prefecture Japanese Year of Abolishment Fate
Kanazawa 金沢県 1869 Renamed as Ishikawa
Sendai 仙台県 1871 Renamed as Miyagi
Morioka 盛岡県 1872 Renamed as Iwate
Nagoya 名古屋県 1872 Renamed as Aichi
Nukata 額田県 1872 Merged into Aichi
Nanao 七尾県 1872 Merged into Ishikawa and Shinkawa
Iruma 入間県 1873 Merged into Kumagaya and Kanagawa
Inba 印旛県 1873 Merged into Chiba
Kisarazu 木更津県 1873 Merged into Chiba
Utsunomiya 宇都宮県 1873 Merged into Tochigi
Asuwa 足羽県 1873 Merged into Tsuruga
Kashiwazaki 柏崎県 1873 Merged into Niigata
Ichinoseki→Mizusawa→Iwai 一関県→水沢県→磐井県 1875 Merged into Iwate and Miyagi
Okitama 置賜県 1875 Merged into Yamagata
Shinji 新治県 1875 Merged into Ibaraki and Chiba
Sakata→Tsuruoka 酒田県→鶴岡県 1876 Merged into Yamagata
Taira→Iwasaki 平県→磐前県 1876 Merged into Fukushima and Miyagi
Wakamatsu 若松県 1876 Merged into Fukushima
Chikuma 筑摩県 1876 Merged into Nagano and Gifu
Tsuruga 敦賀県 1876 Merged into Ishikawa and Shiga
Shinkawa 新川県 1876 Merged into Ishikawa
Sakai 堺県 1881 Merged into Osaka
Ashigara 足柄県 1876 Merged into Kanagawa and Shizuoka
Kumagaya 熊谷県 1876 Merged into Gunma and Saitama
Aikawa 相川県 1876 Merged into Niigata
Hamamatsu 浜松県 1876 Merged into Shizuoka
Hakodate 函館県 1886 Merged into Hokkaido
Sapporo 札幌県 1886 Merged into Hokkaido
Nemuro 根室県 1886 Merged into Hokkaido
Tokyo 東京府 1943 Reorganized as Tokyo Metropolis (東京都)


Territories lost after World War II[edit]































































































































































































































Territory Prefecture Allied occupation Present status[19]
Name Japanese Capital Country Name Capital

Mainland
Okinawa 沖縄県 Naha

 United States[20]

 Japan

 Okinawa

Naha
Karafuto 樺太庁 Toyohara

 Soviet Union

 Russia
part of Sakhalin

Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk

Korea
Heian-hoku 平安北道 Shingishū

 Soviet Union

 North Korea
North Pyongan
Sinuiju
Heian-nan 平安南道 Heijō South Pyongan
Pyongyang
Kankyō-hoku 咸鏡北道 Ranan North Hamgyong
Ranam
Kankyō-nan 咸鏡南道 Kankō South Hamgyong
Hamhung
Kōkai 黃海道 Kaishū Hwanghae
Haeju

Kōgen[21]
江原道 Shunsen Kangwon
Chuncheon[22]

 United States

 South Korea

Gangwon
Chūsei-hoku 忠清北道 Seishū North Chungcheong
Cheongju
Chūsei-nan 忠清南道 Taiden South Chungcheong
Daejeon
Keiki 京畿道 Keijō Gyeonggi
Seoul
Keishō-hoku 慶尚北道 Taikyū North Gyeongsang
Daegu
Keishō-nan 慶尚南道 Fusan South Gyeongsang
Busan
Zenra-hoku 全羅北道 Zenshū North Jeolla
Jeonju
Zenra-nan 全羅南道 Kōshū South Jeolla
Gwangju

Taiwan
Hōko 澎湖庁 Makō

 United States

 Taiwan
Penghu
Magong
Karenkō 花蓮港庁 Karenkō Hualien
Hualien
Shinchiku 新竹州 Shinchiku Hsinchu
Hsinchu
Taichū 台中州 Taichū Taichung
Taichung
Taihoku 台北州 Taihoku Taipei
Taipei
Tainan 台南州 Tainan Tainan
Tainan
Taitō 台東庁 Taitō Taitung
Taitung
Takao 高雄州 Takao Kaohsiung
Kaohsiung

Kantō[23]
関東州 Dairen

 Soviet Union[24]

 China
part of Dalian, Liaoning

Nan'yō[25]
南洋庁 Korōru

 United States[26]

 Palau

Koror City

 Marshall Islands

Majuro

 Federated States of Micronesia

Palikir

 United States

 Northern Mariana Islands

Saipan


See also[edit]



  • List of Japanese prefectures by population

  • List of Japanese prefectures by GDP

  • List of Japanese prefectures by area

  • List of prefectural capitals in Japan

  • List of Prefecture songs of Japan

  • ISO 3166-2 codes for Japan

  • List of prefectural governors in Japan



General[edit]



  • List of regions of Japan

  • Government of Japan



References[edit]





  1. ^ ab Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric, 2002: "Provinces and prefectures" in Japan encyclopedia, p. 780.


  2. ^ prefectural code (fukensei, ja:府県制), district code (gunsei, ja:郡制), city code (shisei, ja:市制), town & village code (chōsonsei, ja:町村制)


  3. ^ Council of Local Authorities for International Relations/Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications: Local Autonomy in Japan 2009


  4. ^ "An Outline of Local Government in Japan" (PDF)..mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit}.mw-parser-output q{quotes:"""""""'""'"}.mw-parser-output code.cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:inherit;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-free a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/Lock-green.svg/9px-Lock-green.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-registration a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-gray-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-subscription a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-red-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration{color:#555}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription span,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration span{border-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration,.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-right{padding-right:0.2em}


  5. ^ Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications: Local Self-Government in Japan 2014


  6. ^ Historical Development of Japanese Local Governance (bilingual Japanese/English series of papers by the Institute for Comparative Studies in Local Governance, National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies): Volume 9: Atsushi Konishi, The Promotion of Decentralization (1) (1993 – 2000), Volume 10: Atsushi Konishi, The Promotion of Decentralization (2) Decentralization and a Change of Government (2001 – 2009) (Links are to the English versions; English translations of Japanese administrative units, government institutions and regulations often vary [even within this series]; in this bilingual series, one can refer directly to the Japanese articles for verification which are accessible from the main page)


  7. ^ Mabuchi, Masaru, "Municipal Amalgamation in Japan", World Bank, 2001.


  8. ^ "Doshusei Regional System" Archived 2006-09-26 at the Wayback Machine. National Association for Research Advancement.


  9. ^ Mochida, "Local Government Organization and Finance: Japan", in Shah, Anwar (2006). Local Governance in Industrial Countries. World Bank.


  10. ^ National Archives of Japan: 『明治東京全図』


  11. ^ Tokyo Metropolitan Archives: 大東京35区物語~15区から23区へ~東京23区の歴史


  12. ^ The Japan Times, December 4, 2003: Few warm to greater-Tokyo assembly idea. Kanagawa chief pushes new administrative body to deal with regional issues


  13. ^ Kanagawa prefectural government: 関東地方知事会


  14. ^ Saitama prefectural government: 関東地方知事会


  15. ^ "九都県市首脳会議". www.9tokenshi-syunoukaigi.jp.


  16. ^ "ホーム-関西広域連合".


  17. ^ See ISO 3166


  18. ^ 都庁の所在地 Archived 2014-04-19 at the Wayback Machine. Shinjuku is the location of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Office.But Tokyo is not a "municipality". Therefore, for the sake of convenience, the notation of prefectural is "Tokyo".


  19. ^ Post-war administrative division changes are not reflected in this table. The capital of the former Japanese administration is not necessarily the capital of the present-day equivalent.


  20. ^ Administrated by the United States Military Government of the Ryukyu Islands. Returned to Japan in 1972


  21. ^ Due to the division of Korea, Kōgen (Kangwon/Gangwon), Keiki (Gyeonggi) and Kōkai (Hwanghae) are divided between North Korea and South Korea. While each Korea has its own Kangwon/Gangwon Province, the North Korean portion of Gyeonggi and the South Korean portion of Hwanghae have been absorbed into other provinces.


  22. ^ Shunsen (Chuncheon) is in present-day South Korea.


  23. ^ Leased from Qing dynasty, subsequently Republic of China and Manchukuo.


  24. ^ After World War II, the Soviet Union occupied the territory. The Soviet Union turned it over to the People's Republic of China in 1955.


  25. ^ League of Nations mandate


  26. ^ Then administrated by the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands




External links[edit]







  • National Governors' Association website

  • Map of Japan showing prefectures

  • Japanese essay on types of prefectures

  • CityMayors.com profile of prefectures













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