| Administrative divisions of Japan |
|---|
| Prefectural |
| Prefectures |
| Sub-prefectural |
| Municipal |
| Sub-municipal |
Japan is often divided into regions, each containing one or more of the country's 47 prefectures at large. Sometimes, they are referred to as "blocs" (ブロック, burokku), or "regional blocs" (地域ブロック, chiiki burokku) as opposed to more granular regional divisions. They are not official administrative units, though they have been used by government officials for statistical and other purposes since 1905. They are widely used in, for example, maps, geography textbooks, and weather reports, and many businesses and institutions use their home regions in their names as well, for example Kyushu National Museum, Kinki Nippon Railway, Chūgoku Bank, and Tōhoku University.
Contents
- Table
- Regions and islands
- Other regional divisions
- Regions as administrative units
- See also
- References
- External links
One common division groups the prefectures into eight regions. In this arrangement, three of the four main islands of Japan, namely Hokkaidō, Shikoku, and Kyūshū, each form their own region, while the largest island, Honshū, is split into five regions. Minor islands are grouped with the larger ones, for example with the Satsunan Islands being included under Kyūshū and the Tokyo Islands under Kantō. Okinawa Prefecture is usually considered part of Kyūshū, but is sometimes treated as its own ninth region.
Japan has eight High Courts, but their jurisdictions do not match the typical eight-region geographical division (see #Other regional divisions and Judicial system of Japan for details).
