Prefectures Maps of Japan
Feb 14, 2021
Japan is a unitary nation. The primary government delegates multiple functions (such as education, health care, transport system, police force) to the prefectures and municipalities but maintains the overall right to control them.
Japan is split into 47 prefectures, making the nation’s first level of administrative and jurisdiction division. They include 43 usual prefectures, two urban prefectures (Osaka and Kyoto), one “territory” (Hokkaido), and one “metropolis” (Tokyo). The first prefectures were formed in 1868 to substitute the urban and rural administrators in the country’s parts before managed directly by the shogunate. In many waves of territorial consolidation, currents 47 prefectures were created by the turn of the century.
