List of regions in Japan - Definition and Overview

Japan is informally divided into eight regions. From north to south, they are:

• Hokkaido (the island of Hokkaido and nearby islands)
• Tohoku region (northern Honshu, including Sendai)
• Kanto region (eastern Honshu, including Tokyo and Yokohama)
• Chubu region (central Honshu, including Mt. Fuji), sometimes divided into:
  • Hokuriku region (northwestern Chubu)
  • Koshin'etsu region (northeastern Chubu)
  • Tokai region (southern Chubu, including Nagoya)
• Kinki region (west-central Honshu, including Osaka, Kobe, and Kyoto)
• Chugoku region (western Honshu, including Hiroshima)
• Shikoku (island)
• Kyushu (island) and Okinawa

Each contains several prefectures, except the Hokkaido region, which covers only Hokkaido Prefecture.

The region is not an official administrative unit, but has been traditionally used as the regional division of Japan in a number of contexts: for example, maps and geography textbooks divide Japan into the eight regions, weather reports usually give the weather by region, and many businesses and institutions use their home region as part of their name (Kinki Nippon Railway, Chugoku Bank, Tohoku University, etc.). While Japan has eight High Courts, their jurisdictions do not correspond to the eight regions above.