Kids Web Japan

Click on the map’s blue text for descriptions of each region.

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Japan has 47 prefectures. On the basis of geographical and historical background, these prefectures can be divided into eight regions: Hokkaido, Tohoku, Kanto, Chubu, Kinki, Chugoku, Shikoku, and Kyushu-Okinawa.

Each region has its own dialect, customs, and unique traditional culture. For example, the Kanto region, which includes Tokyo, and the Kansai region, which includes Osaka, offer striking contrasts in everything from the taste of food to the style of traditional performing arts, and people have fun comparing them.

Japan has a population of 126 million.

Mountainous areas account for more than 70% of Japan's land, so major cities are concentrated in the plains that account for less than 30% of the land. Cities with a population exceeding one million are Sapporo in Hokkaido; Sendai in the Tohoku region; Kawasaki, Saitama, Tokyo, and Yokohama in the Kanto region; Nagoya in the Chubu region; Osaka, Kyoto, and Kobe in the Kinki region; Hiroshima in the Chugoku region; and Fukuoka in Kyushu. The capital city Tokyo, needless to say, is the hub of Japan. Other major cities fulfill roles as the political, economic, and cultural hubs of their respective regions.