Understanding Japan's Archipelago
Japan's Islands
Japan is comprised of nearly 7,000 islands with a little over 400 of those inhabited. However, there are five main islands you need to know.
1) Hokkaido
2) Honshu
3) Shikoku
4) Kyushu
5) Okinawa
Japan's regions
The main islands are divided into eight regions which can further be broken into subregions. When people talk about where they went, you'll sometimes hear them referring to the main, large regions. When referring to regions, the Japanese will add
『地方』after the name. For example, when referring to the Kanto region, they'll say 関東地方.
It's essentially like saying West, Southwest, Mid-West, South, Mid-Atlantic, and New England.
1) Hokkaido
2) Tohoku
3) Kanto
4) Chubu
5) Kansai
6) Chugoku
7) Shikoku
8) Kyushu
ちほう
かんとうちほう
Japan's Prefectures
Within those eight regions are 47 prefectures. They're essentially like states. When people refer to prefectures, they say the
name and add 『県』. For example, if someone's from the Chiba prefecture, they'll say they're from 千葉県 (Chiba-ken).
1) Hokkaido
-
Hokkaido
2) Tohoku
-
Akita
-
Aomori
-
Fukushima
-
Iwate
-
Miyagi
-
Yamagata
3) Kanto
-
Chiba
-
Gunma
-
Ibaraki
-
Kanagawa
-
Saitama
-
Tochigi
-
Tokyo
4) Chubu
-
Aichi
-
Fukui
-
Gifu
-
Ishikawa
-
Nagano
-
Niigata
-
Shizuoka
-
Toyama
-
Yamanashi
5) Kansai
-
Hyogo
-
Kyoto
-
Mie
-
Nara
-
Osaka
-
Shiga
-
Wakayama
6) Chugoku
-
Hiroshima
-
Okayama
-
Shimane
-
Tottori
-
Yamaguchi
7) Shikoku
-
Ehime
-
Kagawa
-
Kochi
-
Tokushima
8) Kyushu
-
Fukuoka
-
Oita
-
Kagashima
-
Kumamoto
-
Miyazaki
-
Nagasaki
-
Okinawa
-
Saga
けん
ち ば けん
Japan's Cities
Those prefectures contain many cities that contribute to the hundreds in Japan. We're not going to get into that, but here are
the top five most populated cities in Japan. When people refer to the city, they'll say the name and say 『市』. For example, if
someone's from Chiba city, they'll say they're from 千葉市 (Chiba-shi).
1)Tokyo
2) Yokohama
3) Osaka
4) Nagoya
5) Sapporo