PREFECTURES OF JAPAN


The 'prefectures of Japan' are the country's 47 sub-national jurisdictions: one "metropolis" (都 ''to''), Tokyo; one "circuit" (é“ ''dÅ''), HokkaidÅ; two urban prefectures (府 ''fu''), Osaka and Kyoto; and 43 other prefectures (県 ''ken''). In Japanese, they are commonly referred to as ''todÅfuken'' (都é“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.[1] 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.[2] As of April 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 ''chÅ'' or ''machi'') and villages (æ‘ ''son'' or ''mura''). HokkaidÅ has 14 subprefectures and those act as branch offices (æ”¯åº ''shichÅ'') of the prefecture. Some other prefectures also have branch offices, which carry out prefectural administrative functions outside the capital.

Contents
Types of prefectures
''Fu'' (Osaka/Kyoto) and ''Ken''
HokkaidÅ
Tokyo-to
Lists of prefectures
List in ISO Order
List in alphabetical order
Map
References
See also
External links

Types of prefectures


''To'', ''dÅ'', ''fu'', and ''ken'' differ in name only for historical reasons. Since 1947, there is no administrative difference between the four types. Usually, prefectures are called by their name only, without the suffix, except for HokkaidÅ. However, the suffix is used when it is 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 ''bugyÅ''-ruled zones (奉行支é…地) around the nine largest cities in Japan, and 302 township-ruled zones (郡代支é…地) elsewhere. When the Meiji government began to create the prefectural system in 1868, the first year of Meiji era, while the nine bugyÅ-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 does not usually distinguish between ''fu'' and ''ken'', calling both simply "prefectures."
HokkaidÅ

The term ''dÅ'' (circuit) was originally used to refer to regions of Japan, such as TÅkaidÅ and SaikaidÅ, consisting of several provinces. It uses the Kanji for "road" and is considered to have been settled by Emperor Temmu.
HokkaidÅ, the only remaining ''dÅ'' today, was not one of the original seven ''dÅ'' (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 HokkaidÅ did not fit into the existing ''dÅ'' classifications, a new ''dÅ'' was created to cover it.
The Meiji government originally classified HokkaidÅ 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 HokkaidÅ prefecture in 1886. The ''-ken'' suffix was never added to its name, so the ''-dÅ'' suffix became understood to mean "prefecture."
When HokkaidÅ was incorporated, transportation on the island was still very underdeveloped, so the prefecture was split into several "sub-prefectures" (æ”¯åº ''shichÅ'') 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 have much less power than they possessed before and during World War II: they now exist primarily to handle paperwork and other bureaucratic functions.
"HokkaidÅ Prefecture" is, technically speaking, a redundant term, although it is occasionally used to differentiate the government from the island itself. The government of the prefecture calls itself the "HokkaidÅ Government" rather than the "HokkaidÅ Prefectural Government."
The largest city and prefectural capital of HokkaidÅ 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 had not returned.
There are some differences in terminology between Tokyo and other prefectures: police and fire departments are called ''chÅ'' (åº) 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 do not 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:
'HokkaidÅ'
----1. HokkaidÅ
'TÅhoku'
----2. Aomori
3. Iwate
4. Miyagi
5. Akita
6. Yamagata
7. Fukushima
'KantÅ'
----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. HyÅgo
29. Nara
30. Wakayama
'Chūgoku'
----31. Tottori
32. Shimane
33. Okayama
34. Hiroshima
35. Yamaguchi
'Shikoku'
----36. Tokushima
37. Kagawa
38. Ehime
39. Kochi
'Kyūshū & Okinawa'
----40. Fukuoka
41. Saga
42. Nagasaki
43. Kumamoto
44. ÅŒita
45. Miyazaki
46. Kagoshima
47. Okinawa

Karafuto, a portion of the island of Sakhalin north of HokkaidÅ (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

Symbol Prefecture Japanese Capital Region Island Population¹ Area² Density³ Distr. Municip.
Aichi 愛知県 Nagoya Chūbu Honshū 7,043,235 5,153.81 1,366 15 88 JP-23
 Akita 秋田県 Akita TÅhoku HonshÅ« 1,189,215 11,612.11 102 8 29 JP-05
 Aomori é’森県 Aomori TÅhoku HonshÅ« 1,475,635 9,606.26 154 8 61 JP-02
 Chiba åƒè‘‰çœŒ Chiba KantÅ HonshÅ« 5,926,349 5,156.15 1,149 9 80 JP-12
 Ehime 愛媛県 Matsuyama Shikoku Shikoku 1,493,126 5,676.44 263 7 28 JP-38
 Fukui ç¦äº•çœŒ Fukui ChÅ«bu HonshÅ« 828,960 4,188.76 198 10 29 JP-18
 Fukuoka ç¦å²¡çœŒ Fukuoka KyÅ«shÅ« KyÅ«shÅ« 5,015,666 4,971.01 1,009 17 91 JP-40
 Fukushima ç¦å³¶çœŒ Fukushima TÅhoku HonshÅ« 2,126,998 13,782.54 154 14 85 JP-07
 Gifu å²é˜œçœŒ Gifu ChÅ«bu HonshÅ« 2,107,687 10,598.18 199 11 49 JP-21
 Gunma 群馬県 Maebashi KantŠHonshū 2,024,820 6,363.16 318 12 61 JP-10
 Hiroshima 広島県 Hiroshima Chūgoku Honshū 2,878,949 8,476.95 340 10 37 JP-34
 HokkaidÅ åŒ—æµ·é“ Sapporo HokkaidÅ HokkaidÅ 5,682,950 83,452.47 68 66 207 JP-01
 HyÅgo 兵庫県 Kobe Kansai HonshÅ« 5,550,742 8,392.42 661 13 60 JP-28
 Ibaraki 茨城県 Mito KantŠHonshū 2,985,424 6,095.62 490 13 61 JP-08
 Ishikawa 石å·çœŒ Kanazawa ChÅ«bu HonshÅ« 1,180,935 4,185.32 282 7 25 JP-17
 Iwate 岩手県 Morioka TÅhoku HonshÅ« 1,416,198 15,278.51 93 12 46 JP-03
 Kagawa 香å·çœŒ Takamatsu Shikoku Shikoku 1,022,843 1,861.70 549 5 17 JP-37
 Kagoshima 鹿å…島県 Kagoshima KyÅ«shÅ« KyÅ«shÅ« 1,786,214 9,132.42 196 11 49 JP-46
 Kanagawa 神奈å·çœŒ Yokohama KantÅ HonshÅ« 8,489,932 2,415.42 3,515 7 35 JP-14
 Kochi 高知県 Kochi Shikoku Shikoku 813,980 7,104.70 115 6 35 JP-39
 Kumamoto 熊本県 Kumamoto Kyūshū Kyūshū 1,859,451 6,908.45 269 10 48 JP-43
 Kyoto 京都府 Kyoto Kansai Honshū 2,644,331 4,612.93 573 6 28 JP-26
 Mie 三é‡çœŒ Tsu Kansai HonshÅ« 1,857,365 5760.72 322 7 29 JP-24
 Miyagi 宮城県 Sendai TÅhoku HonshÅ« 2,365,204 6,861.51 325 10 36 JP-04
 Miyazaki 宮崎県 Miyazaki Kyūshū Kyūshū 1,170,023 6,684.67 175 8 30 JP-45
 Nagano 長野県 Nagano Chūbu Honshū 2,214,409 12,598.48 163 16 120 JP-20
 Nagasaki 長崎県 Nagasaki Kyūshū Kyūshū 1,516,536 4,092.80 371 9 79 JP-42
 Nara 奈良県 Nara Kansai Honshū 1,442,862 3,691.09 391 8 47 JP-29
 Niigata 新潟県 Niigata Chūbu Honshū 2,475,724 12,582.37 197 16 111 JP-15
 Ōita 大分県 Ōita Kyūshū Kyūshū 1,221,128 5,804.24 210 12 58 JP-44
 Okayama 岡山県 Okayama Chūgoku Honshū 1,950,656 7,008.63 278 18 78 JP-33
 Okinawa 沖縄県 Naha Kyūshū Ryūkyū
Islands		 1,318,281 2,271.30 580 5 41 JP-47
 Osaka 大阪府 Osaka Kansai Honshū 8,804,806 1,893.18 4,652 5 44 JP-27
 Saga ä½è³€çœŒ Saga KyÅ«shÅ« KyÅ«shÅ« 876,664 2,439.23 359 8 49 JP-41
 Saitama 埼玉県 Saitama KantŠHonshū 6,938,004 3,767.09 1,827 9 90 JP-11
 Shiga 滋賀県 Otsu Kansai Honshū 1,342,811 4,017.36 334 11 50 JP-25
 Shimane 島根県 Matsue Chūgoku Honshū 761,499 6,707.32 114 12 59 JP-32
 Shizuoka é™å²¡çœŒ Shizuoka ChÅ«bu HonshÅ« 3,767,427 7,328.61 484 12 74 JP-22
 Tochigi 栃木県 Utsunomiya KantŠHonshū 2,004,787 6,408.28 313 7 33 JP-09
 Tokushima 徳島県 Tokushima Shikoku Shikoku 823,997 4,145.26 199 10 50 JP-36
 Tokyo æ±äº¬éƒ½ Shinjuku KantÅ HonshÅ« 12,059,237 2,187.08 5,514 1 39 JP-13
 Tottori é³¥å–県 Tottori ChÅ«goku HonshÅ« 613,229 3,507.19 175 6 39 JP-31
 Toyama 富山県 Toyama Chūbu Honshū 1,120,843 4,247.22 264 6 27 JP-16
 Wakayama 和歌山県 Wakayama Kansai Honshū 1,069,839 4,725.55 226 7 50 JP-30
 Yamagata 山形県 Yamagata TÅhoku HonshÅ« 1,244,040 9,323.34 133 9 44 JP-06
 Yamaguchi å±±å£çœŒ Yamaguchi ChÅ«goku HonshÅ« 1,528,107 6,110.76 250 11 56 JP-35
 Yamanashi 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

Map


References



1. http://siteresources.worldbank.org/WBI/Resources/wbi37175.pdf Mabuchi, Masaru, "Municipal Amalgamation in Japan," World Bank, 2001.
2. http://www.nira.go.jp/publ/seiken/ev18n10/ev18n10-s.html "''Doshusei'' Regional System," National Association for Research Advancement


See also



★ Government of Japan

★ List of Japanese prefectures by population

★ List of Japanese prefectures ranked by area

★ List of regions in Japan

★ ISO 3166-2 codes for Japan

★ Kokura Prefecture - created from three prefectures in December 1871 and absorbed into Fukuoka prefecture in 1876

External links



★ National Governors' Association Website (English)

★ Map of Japan showing administrative divisions

★ Japanese essay on types of prefectures

★ Local Authorities for International Relations (English)

★ CityMayors.com profile of prefectures

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