The core idea: Japan is sorted twice
Japanese divides the country in two ways at once. The eight regions, chihō (地方), are for talking: they answer roughly where. The 47 prefectures, todōfuken (都道府県), are for governing: they have governors, assemblies and a line in every postal address. Each region contains whole prefectures, so once you know a prefecture's region, you can place it on the map.
The map below is a schematic, with the regions as blocks roughly where they sit, running from Hokkaidō in the north-east to Kyūshū and Okinawa in the south-west. Under each name is its count of prefectures.
| Japanese | Romaji | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 東北に行ったことがありますか。 | Tōhoku ni itta koto ga arimasu ka. | Have you ever been to Tōhoku? |
| 長野は中部地方です。 | Nagano wa Chūbu chihō desu. | Nagano is in the Chūbu region. |
| 四国には県が四つあります。 | Shikoku ni wa ken ga yottsu arimasu. | Shikoku has four prefectures. |
The eight regions and what their names mean
Most region names describe position, and several are seen from the old capital, Kyoto. Kinki is literally near the capital. Kantō is east of the barrier, the checkpoints that once guarded the roads out of the capital region. Chūgoku, middle provinces, lay between the capital and Kyūshū. Shikoku and Kyūshū simply count the old provinces on each island: four and nine. You hear the names daily in weather forecasts.
| Japanese | Romaji | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 明日の関東地方は晴れるでしょう。 | Ashita no Kantō chihō wa hareru deshō. | Tomorrow the Kantō region will be sunny. |
| 近畿地方では午後から雨が降るでしょう。 | Kinki chihō de wa gogo kara ame ga furu deshō. | In the Kinki region, rain is expected from the afternoon. |
| 九州北部では大雨のおそれがあります。 | Kyūshū hokubu de wa ōame no osore ga arimasu. | There is a risk of heavy rain in northern Kyūshū. |
| Region | Reading | Literally | Prefectures |
|---|---|---|---|
| 北海道 | Hokkaidō | north sea circuit | Hokkaidō (1) |
| 東北 | Tōhoku | east-north | Aomori, Iwate, Miyagi, Akita, Yamagata, Fukushima (6) |
| 関東 | Kantō | east of the barrier | Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma, Saitama, Chiba, Tōkyō, Kanagawa (7) |
| 中部 | Chūbu | central part | Niigata, Toyama, Ishikawa, Fukui, Yamanashi, Nagano, Gifu, Shizuoka, Aichi (9) |
| 近畿 | Kinki | near the capital | Mie, Shiga, Kyōto, Ōsaka, Hyōgo, Nara, Wakayama (7) |
| 中国 | Chūgoku | middle provinces | Tottori, Shimane, Okayama, Hiroshima, Yamaguchi (5) |
| 四国 | Shikoku | four provinces | Tokushima, Kagawa, Ehime, Kōchi (4) |
| 九州・沖縄 | Kyūshū-Okinawa | nine provinces, plus Okinawa | Fukuoka, Saga, Nagasaki, Kumamoto, Ōita, Miyazaki, Kagoshima, Okinawa (8) |
To, dō, fu and ken: four labels from history
The word todōfuken is simply the four suffixes in a row, and each one records a piece of history rather than a size or a rank.
| Suffix | Reading | Literally | The story |
|---|---|---|---|
| 都 | to | capital | Tokyo alone, since the prefecture and city merged in 1943 |
| 道 | dō | road, circuit | Hokkaidō, named in 1869 after ancient circuits such as the Tōkaidō |
| 府 | fu | seat of administration | Osaka and Kyoto; Tokyo was the third until 1943 |
| 県 | ken | prefecture | Every other prefecture, 43 in all |
In 1868 the new Meiji government made important places into fu and the rest of its land into ken; in 1869 all but Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka became ken. Since 1947, fu and ken have had exactly the same legal status. Tokyo is the one real exception: its metropolitan government runs some services for the 23 special wards that city halls handle elsewhere.
Saying prefecture names in conversation
In speech the suffix usually drops: people say Aichi, Hokkaidō, Ōsaka. You add it on forms, in the news, and whenever a prefecture shares its name with its capital city and you need to say which. Many do share, like Shizuoka and Hiroshima; others do not, since Aichi's capital is Nagoya, Kanagawa's is Yokohama and Hyōgo's is Kōbe. The capital is the kenchō shozaichi (県庁所在地), literally the place where the prefectural office is. Remember too that Tōkyō-to is bigger than the city most visitors picture: it includes the Tama area to the west and islands far out in the Pacific.
Two new acquaintances compare where they live and sort out city from prefecture.
| Japanese | Romaji | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 京都市ですか、京都府ですか。 | Kyōto-shi desu ka, Kyōto-fu desu ka. | Kyoto city, or Kyoto prefecture? |
| 京都府の北の方です。 | Kyōto-fu no kita no hō desu. | The northern part of Kyoto prefecture. |
| 愛知県の県庁所在地は名古屋です。 | Aichi-ken no kenchō shozaichi wa Nagoya desu. | Aichi's prefectural capital is Nagoya. |
| 横浜は神奈川県です。 | Yokohama wa Kanagawa-ken desu. | Yokohama is in Kanagawa. |
| 東京の多摩地域に住んでいます。 | Tōkyō no Tama chiiki ni sunde imasu. | I live in the Tama area of Tokyo. |
| 東京都には島もあります。 | Tōkyō-to ni wa shima mo arimasu. | Tokyo prefecture includes islands too. |
Reading the prefecture kanji
Most prefecture names are ordinary Japanese words: Aomori, literally blue-green forest, or Akita, autumn rice field. A handful trip up everyone, including Japanese schoolchildren, because they use rare kanji or old readings. These are the ones worth drilling; Unihongo's free learning games are a quick way to do it.
| Kanji | Reading | Literally | The trap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 茨城 | Ibaraki | thorn castle | Not Ibaragi, a very common slip |
| 栃木 | Tochigi | horse-chestnut tree | 栃 is a kanji created in Japan |
| 群馬 | Gunma | herd of horses | Gun, not the native reading mure |
| 埼玉 | Saitama | cape jewel | 埼 is rare outside this name |
| 岐阜 | Gifu | fork and hill | Both kanji are rare |
| 滋賀 | Shiga | nourish and celebrate | Ga, not ka |
| 愛媛 | Ehime | lovely princess | A goddess's name from the old chronicles |
| 大分 | Ōita | big division | Not Ōbun or Daibu |
| 鹿児島 | Kagoshima | deer child island | Ka is an old reading for deer |
Where are you from? Talking about your home prefecture
At a welcome party, the question comes early and the answer comes in layers: prefecture first, then a region or a nearby big city if the listener looks unsure. Shusshin (出身), written with out and body, is where you come from. Jimoto (地元), literally home ground, is your home area, and jikka (実家) is your parents' house. How people speak back home is a separate topic with its own guide to dialects; here the point is placing the answer on the map.
| Japanese | Romaji | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 出身はどこですか。 | Shusshin wa doko desu ka. | Where are you from? |
| ご出身はどちらですか。 | Go-shusshin wa dochira desu ka. | Where are you from? (more respectful) |
| 栃木です。関東の北の方です。 | Tochigi desu. Kantō no kita no hō desu. | Tochigi. It's in the north of Kantō. |
| 何県ですか。 | Nani-ken desu ka. | Which prefecture? |
| 愛媛って、どのあたりですか。 | Ehime tte, dono atari desu ka. | Ehime? Whereabouts is that? |
| 四国の西の方です。 | Shikoku no nishi no hō desu. | The western side of Shikoku. |
| 地元は福岡ですが、今は東京に住んでいます。 | Jimoto wa Fukuoka desu ga, ima wa Tōkyō ni sunde imasu. | My home town is Fukuoka, but I live in Tokyo now. |
| 実家は長野にあります。 | Jikka wa Nagano ni arimasu. | My parents' house is in Nagano. |
Beyond the basics: where the regions blur
The eight-region scheme is the school version. In daily life the edges move, and a few other groupings are just as common. Colleagues chatting over lunch might say:
| Japanese | Romaji | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 関西出身です。 | Kansai shusshin desu. | I'm from Kansai. |
| 三重は関西ですか、東海ですか。 | Mie wa Kansai desu ka, Tōkai desu ka. | Is Mie part of Kansai or Tōkai? |
| 首都圏の電車は本当に混みますね。 | Shutoken no densha wa hontō ni komimasu ne. | Trains around Tokyo really get crowded, don't they? |
- Kansai, literally west of the barrier, is what people say instead of Kinki, and its edges are loose: the core is Osaka, Kyoto, Hyōgo, Nara, Shiga and Wakayama, while Mie is in or out depending on who is counting.
- Chūbu is usually split three ways: Hokuriku on the Sea of Japan side, Tōkai on the Pacific side around Nagoya, and Kōshin'etsu inland, a name built from the old provinces of Kai, Shinano and Echigo.
- Okinawa belongs to the Kyūshū region in school, but is often treated on its own, which is why you see Kyūshū-Okinawa.
- Shutoken (首都圏), literally capital sphere, means Tokyo and its commuter belt, usually Kanagawa, Saitama and Chiba, and it is how news and estate agents talk about the Tokyo area.
Confusable pairs: Chūgoku and China, Kansai and Kinki
Some of the most useful words on the map sound like other words, or like each other. A friend announces a trip:
| Japanese | Romaji | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 来月、中国地方の広島に行きます。 | Raigetsu, Chūgoku chihō no Hiroshima ni ikimasu. | Next month I'm going to Hiroshima, in the Chūgoku region. |
| 中国って、国の方ですか。 | Chūgoku tte, kuni no hō desu ka. | By Chūgoku, do you mean the country? |
| Word | Reading | Meaning | Confused with |
|---|---|---|---|
| 中国地方 | Chūgoku chihō | Western Honshū: Hiroshima, Okayama and three more | Chūgoku, China |
| 中国 | Chūgoku | China, or the region when context makes it clear | The region |
| 関西 | Kansai | The everyday name, with loose edges | Kinki, the official name |
| 近畿 | Kinki | The textbook region of seven prefectures | Kansai |
| 京都府 | Kyōto-fu | The whole prefecture, reaching the Sea of Japan | Kyōto-shi, the city |
| 出身 | shusshin | Where you come from | Jūsho, your current address |
| 県庁所在地 | kenchō shozaichi | The prefectural capital | The largest city, which is not always the same |
When the region might be heard as China, people say Chūgoku chihō or name a city: Hiroshima no hō, the Hiroshima area.
Common mistakes with prefecture names
Saying Hokkaidō-ken. Every other prefecture seems to take a suffix, so learners add one. Dō is already in the name; say Hokkaidō, and on forms write 北海道.
Saying Tōkyō-ken. The same pattern at work. Tokyo is Tōkyō-to on paper and plain Tōkyō in speech.
Reading Ibaragi. The cause is rendaku, the voicing that turns kawa into gawa in Kanagawa, applied where it does not belong. The prefecture's own name is Ibaraki, and locals notice.
Treating the city and the prefecture as one. Kyōto-fu stretches far beyond the temples, all the way to the Sea of Japan. Say Kyōto-shi when you mean the city.
Hearing Chūgoku as China. It is the same word, so a travel plan to Chūgoku can confuse you for a moment. Listen for chihō or a city name, and use them yourself.