Regions In Japan

Japan has Nine political regions and 47 smaller divisions. The nine regions are listed below. Each of the smaller divisions are known as prefectures, or 'ken'. When romanized into the Alphabet, they are written thus 'Hyogo-ken'. The exceptions are Tokyo (a metropolis) written as 'Tokyo-to'. Osaka and Kyoto (both urban prefectures) written as 'Osaka-fu' and 'Kyoto-fu' respectively and Hokkaido (a 'do') is written as is.

This section will be updated to show details of each region over time, but this is not the initial focus of the Education Japan service - we focus on providing information about Japanese Language Schools rather than a Japanese regional travel guide.

Hokkaido

Hokkaido

Tohoku

Akita, Aomori, Fukushima, Iwate, Miyagi, Yamagata

Chubu

Aichi, Fukui, Gifu, Ishikawa, Nagano, Niigata, Toyama, Shizuoka, Yamanashi

Kanto

Chiba, Gunma, Ibaraki, Kanagawa, Saitama, Tochigi, Tokyo

Kinki

Hyogo, Kyoto, Mie, Nara, Osaka, Shiga, Wakayama

Chugoku

Hiroshima, Okayama, Shimane, Tottori, Yamaguchi

Shikoku

Ehime, Kagawa, Kochi, Tokushima

Kyushu

Fukuoka, Kagoshima, Kumamoto, Miyazaki, Nagasaki, Oita, Saga

Okinawa

Okinawa

Where to go

Each region has its own character, so it is worth doing a little research into each part of Japan before you commit to a location. The main metropolitan areas are Tokyo and Osaka (or Kanto and Kansai). Each has a distinct identity, and both are worth visiting. There are plenty of other cities of over one million people, however, so don't dismiss everywhere else out of hand.

For example, Hiroshima, Nagoya, Kyoto, Sapporo and Fukuoka all clear the one million mark easily, and each is famous for different reasons. One of the most important factors to consider, however, is whether you have any friends in Japan. If you know someone in Japan well, you should consider trying to study near their home area - that will enable you to get into Japanese society and meet people much more quickly and easily, which can have a major impact on how quickly you learn Japanese and how much you enjoy your trip.

Regional Dialects and Standard Japanese

Many people worry that if they don't go to Tokyo, then they won't learn the standard language. It is true that each region has its own dialect, but in language schools everywhere, you will be learning the same standard tongue. In certain regions, particularly the Kansai area around Osaka-Kobe, the dialect is more commonly spoken in everyday life, but everyone can also speak the standard tongue and will generally do so with foreigners. You will not find studying in Kansai a disadvantage - and you definitely do not need to choose Tokyo over any other region purely for this reason.

Dialects should generally be regarded as an item of extra interest that can even help shed light on the standard form by the contrast. Also, Japanese is a living language that is changing at an extraordinary rate, so there is arguably a greater distinction between generations of Japanese speakers than there is between some of the dialects. Enjoy the difference!