Map of Japan An even better map service (though in Japanese
only) of the whole country is provided divided into 5 main
geographical divisions: Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu and
Okinawa. The main island of Honshu is further divided into 5
regions: Tohoku, Chubu, Kanto, Kinki and Chugoku. The
administrative system is divided as follows: Tokyo To
(metropolis); Hokkaido Do (circuit); Osaka Fu, Kyoto Fu (urban
prefectures); 43 Ken (prefectures). This system was introduced
in 1888, with Tokyo being designated as a metropolis in 1943.
Click on the names of the 9 regions below to go to our
sightseeing pages on each. Clicking on the prefectures will take
you to the English section (where available) of their respective
official At the time of the October 1, 2005 national census, the
population of Japan was 127,767,994 (August 1999). The most
densely populated areas are the Tokyo metropolis and its port
cities of Yokohama and Kawasaki and the so-called Kansai area,
made up of Osaka, Kobe and Kyoto. While the populat