The prefectures of Japan are the country's 47 sub-national jurisdictions: one "metropolis" (都; To), Tokyo; one "circuit" (道; Dō), Hokkaidō; two urban prefectures (府; Fu), Osaka and Kyoto; and 43 other prefectures (県; Ken). In Japanese, they are commonly referred to as Todōfuken (都道府県).

The current system was established by the Meiji government in 1871, and is known as the abolition of the han system. The prefectures also replace the former provinces. Although there were initially over 300 prefectures, this number was reduced to 47 in 1888. The Local Autonomy Law of 1947 gave more political power to prefectures, and provided for locally-elected governors. 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.

Under the current Local Autonomy Law, each prefecture is further subdivided into cities (市 shi) and counties (郡 gun). Each county is further subdivided into towns (町 chō or machi) and villages (村; son or mura). Hokkaido has 14 subprefectures and each as branch office (支庁 shichō) of the prefecture. Some other prefectures also have branch offices, which carry out prefectural administrative functions outside the capital.

Contents

1 List of prefectures 2 Types of prefectures 2.1 Fu (Osaka/Kyoto) and Ken 2.2 Hokkaidō 2.3 Tokyo-to 3 See also 4 External links

List of prefectures

Prefecture	Japanese	Capital	Region	Island	Population¹	Area²	Density³	Distr.	Municip.	ISO
Aichi	愛知県	Nagoya	Chubu	Honshu	7,043,235	5,153.81	1,366	15	88	JP-23
Akita	秋田県	Akita	Tohoku	Honshu	1,189,215	11,612.11	102	8	65	JP-05
Aomori	青森県	Aomori	Tohoku	Honshu	1,475,635	9,606.26	154	8	61	JP-02
Chiba	千葉県	Chiba	Kanto	Honshu	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	福井県	Fukui	Chubu	Honshu	828,960	4,188.76	198	10	29	JP-18
Fukuoka	福岡県	Fukuoka	Kyushu	Kyushu	5,015,666	4,971.01	1,009	17	91	JP-40
Fukushima	福島県	Fukushima	Tohoku	Honshu	2,126,998	13,782.54	154	14	85	JP-07
Gifu	岐阜県	Gifu	Chubu	Honshu	2,107,687	10,598.18	199	11	49	JP-21
Gunma	群馬県	Maebashi	Kanto	Honshu	2,024,820	6,363.16	318	12	61	JP-10
Hiroshima	広島県	Hiroshima	Chugoku	Honshu	2,878,949	8,476.95	340	10	37	JP-34
Hokkaido	北海道	Sapporo	Hokkaido	Hokkaido	5,682,950	83,452.47	68	66	212	JP-01
Hyogo	兵庫県	Kobe	Kinki	Honshu	5,550,742	8,392.42	661	19	88	JP-28
Ibaraki	茨城県	Mito	Kanto	Honshu	2,985,424	6,095.62	490	14	84	JP-08
Ishikawa	石川県	Kanazawa	Chubu	Honshu	1,180,935	4,185.32	282	8	41	JP-17
Iwate	岩手県	Morioka	Tohoku	Honshu	1,416,198	15,278.51	93	12	59	JP-03
Kagawa	香川県	Takamatsu	Shikoku	Shikoku	1,022,843	1,861.70	549	6	37	JP-37
Kagoshima	鹿児島県	Kagoshima	Kyushu	Kyushu	1,786,214	9,132.42	196	12	96	JP-46
Kanagawa	神奈川県	Yokohama	Kanto	Honshu	8,489,932	2,415.42	3,515	7	37	JP-14
Kochi	高知県	Kochi	Shikoku	Shikoku	813,980	7,104.70	115	7	53	JP-39
Kumamoto	熊本県	Kumamoto	Kyushu	Kyushu	1,859,451	6,908.45	269	11	94	JP-43
Kyoto	京都府	Kyoto	Kinki	Honshu	2,644,331	4,612.93	573	12	44	JP-26
Mie	三重県	Tsu	Kinki	Honshu	1,857,365	5760.72	322	14	69	JP-24
Miyagi	宮城県	Sendai	Tohoku	Honshu	2,365,204	6,861.51	325	15	71	JP-04
Miyazaki	宮崎県	Miyazaki	Kyushu	Kyushu	1,170,023	6,684.67	175	8	44	JP-45
Nagano	長野県	Nagano	Chubu	Honshu	2,214,409	12,598.48	163	16	120	JP-20
Nagasaki	長崎県	Nagasaki	Kyushu	Kyushu	1,516,536	4,092.80	371	9	79	JP-42
Nara	奈良県	Nara	Kinki	Honshu	1,442,862	3,691.09	391	8	47	JP-29
Niigata	新潟県	Niigata	Chubu	Honshu	2,475,724	12,582.37	197	16	111	JP-15
Oita	大分県	Oita	Kyushu	Kyushu	1,221,128	5,804.24	210	12	58	JP-44
Okayama	岡山県	Okayama	Chugoku	Honshu	1,950,656	7,008.63	278	18	78	JP-33
Okinawa	沖縄県	Naha	Kyushu	Okinawa	1,318,281	2,271.30	580	5	53	JP-47
Osaka	大阪府	Osaka	Kinki	Honshu	8,804,806	1,893.18	4,652	5	44	JP-27
Saga	佐賀県	Saga	Kyushu	Kyushu	876,664	2,439.23	359	8	49	JP-41
Saitama	埼玉県	Saitama	Kanto	Honshu	6,938,004	3,767.09	1,827	9	90	JP-11
Shiga	滋賀県	Otsu	Kinki	Honshu	1,342,811	4,017.36	334	11	50	JP-25
Shimane	島根県	Matsue	Chugoku	Honshu	761,499	6,707.32	114	12	59	JP-32
Shizuoka	静岡県	Shizuoka	Chubu	Honshu	3,767,427	7,328.61	484	12	74	JP-22
Tochigi	栃木県	Utsunomiya	Kanto	Honshu	2,004,787	6,408.28	313	7	49	JP-09
Tokushima	徳島県	Tokushima	Shikoku	Shikoku	823,997	4,145.26	199	10	50	JP-36
Tokyo	東京都	Shinjuku	Kanto	Honshu	12,059,237	2,187.08	5,514	1	39	JP-13
Tottori	鳥取県	Tottori	Chugoku	Honshu	613,229	3,507.19	175	6	39	JP-31
Toyama	富山県	Toyama	Chubu	Honshu	1,120,843	4,247.22	264	6	27	JP-16
Wakayama	和歌山県	Wakayama	Kinki	Honshu	1,069,839	4,725.55	226	7	50	JP-30
Yamagata	山形県	Yamagata	Tohoku	Honshu	1,244,040	9,323.34	133	9	44	JP-06
Yamaguchi	山口県	Yamaguchi	Chugoku	Honshu	1,528,107	6,110.76	250	11	56	JP-35
Yamanashi	山梨県	Kofu	Chubu	Honshu	888,170	4,465.37	199	8	64	JP-19

Types of prefectures

To, dō, fu, and ken differ mainly in name: their names differ for historical reasons.

Fu (Osaka/Kyoto) and Ken

During the Edo period, the bakufu established bugyō-ruled zones (奉行支配地) around over nine largest cities in Japan, and 302 township-ruled zones (郡代支配地) elsewhere. When Meiji government began to create the prefectural system in 1868, the first year of Meiji era, while the nine of bugyō-ruled zones became fu, the township-ruled zones and the rests 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."

Hokkaidō

The term dō (circuit) was originally used to refer to regions of Japan, such as Tokaidō and Saikaidō, consisting of several provinces. It means road in Kanji and is considered to have been settled by the Emperor Temmu.

Hokkaidō, the only remaining dō today, was not one of the original seven dō (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 dō classifications, a new dō 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 Hokkaidō prefecture in 1886. The -ken suffix was never added to its name, so the -dō suffix became understood to mean "prefecture."

When Hokkaido was incorporated, transportation on the island was still very underdeveloped, so the prefecture was split into several "sub-prefectures" (支庁 shichō) that could fulfill administrative duties of the prefectural government. These sub-prefectures are the main difference between Hokkaidō and the other ken, but they are only a consequence of Hokkaidō's enormous size, not its designation.

"Hokkaido 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 "Hokkaido Government" rather than the "Hokkaido Prefectural Government."

Today, Hokkaido is the least populated of the four main Japanese islands. The largest and prefectural capital is Sapporo, the sixth 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). With newly created wards, which had been suburb villages and towns of Tokyo City, 35 wards were placed under Tokyo-fu. The implicit reason for this reorganization was to consolidate the administration of the area around the capital by eliminating the extra level of authority in Tokyo. In 1947 35 wards were reorganized into the 23 special wards, because the population of Tokyo heavily decreased. Many died because of the several bombardment during the war and many survived people refused out of the city, and many men who had been drafted didn't return. Although the postwar growth of Tokyo has caused its urban area to spill over into several other prefectures, and finally the wards have got the equal status to the city and therefore the power of automony as cities.

There are some differences in terminology between Tokyo and other prefectures: police and fire departments are called chō (庁) 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.

See also

• Politics 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

External links

• National Governors' Association Website (English)
• Map of Japan showing administrative divisions
• Japanese essay on types of prefectures