Political Map of Japan

Background:
Japan is a nation of rich cultural heritage and many natural wonders. Referred to as 'The Land Of The Rising Sun', Japan has become the epicenter of international trade and finance with the technological advances made by the Japanese and by Japanese companies.
 Location of Japan:
Situated in East Asia, Japan is an archipelago of 6,852 islands. It is surrounded by the North Pacific Ocean to the east, Sea of Japan to the west, and East China Sea and Philippine Sea to the south. China, North Korea, South Korea, and Russia share maritime boundaries with Japan. Japan's Geographic Coordinates are 35.41⁰ N and 135.83⁰E.

Economy and Agriculture
Japan's economic growth after World War II has been phenomenal. The shrewd government policies and dedicated work culture have propelled the country's economy to great heights.

For three decades from 1960's to 1980's Japan's real economic growth had been remarkable. In the 1990's however, Japan faced an economic crisis. with government spends having been promptly cut and investments made, the economy recovered again in 2009-2010.

Japan's Time Line

30,000BC	Earliest Known Inhabitation of Japan
535 AD	Contact with Korea and China introducs Buddhism
710AD	Japan's First Permanent Capital Founded At Nara
	Golden Age of Japan starts with the beginning of Nara period.
784 AD	Hein Period follows
1192	Yoritomo of Minamoto clan sets up military government known as Shogunate
1543	Portuguese enter Japan for trade
1603-1867	Tokugawa period starts
1633	Foreigners banned; trade with foreign countries suspended
1853	US demands reopening of trade
1867	Edo Shogunate fails
1868	Meiji Emperor ascends the throne
1894	Japan and China go to war
1904	Russia and Japan go to war
1912	Meiji Emperor dies
1914	In world war I, Japan joins British Allies
1940	Japan become allies with Germany and Italy in Second World War
1945	Two Japanese cities bombed by USA (Hiroshima and Nagasaki)- only known use of nuclear bombs in a war
1947	Japan signs peace treaties with United States and other countries
1952	Japan regains full independence
1956	Liberal Democratic party formed
1956	Japan becomes member of United Nation
1982	Japanese automaker (Honda) opens their first plant in US
1993	Seven Party coalition government formed
1994	Coalition government collapses, LDP and socialist support new administration takes over.
2011	Earthquake hits Japan, followed by Tsunami causing a nuclear disaster
2011	China overtakes Japanese economy, pushing Japan to the fourth position.

Unfortunately Japan suffered again in 2011 due to a major earthquake and Tsunami, forcing Japan's position down to 4th largest economy in the world. Japan has a GDP (PPP) of $4.389 trillion (2011 est.) Japan's agriculture sector is small and highly subsidized. Its major agricultural products are rice, fish, vegetables, dairy products etc. Japan imports about 60% of its food and its industrial sector also heavily imports its fuel and raw materials. PM Noda has currently proposed to open service sector and agricultural sector to foreign competition to boost its export.

Political History and Divisions
Japan has a constitutional monarchy and parliamentary government, with the Prime Minster as the head of the government. Role of the monarch is mainly ceremonial. After the death of Meiji emperor in 1912 followed by the world wars, the reign of monarchs almost ended. By 1952, Japan had regained its full independence and in 1956 Liberal Democratic Party was formed. By this time constitutional monarchy was completely taken over by the parliamentary government. Japanese government has two houses; House of Representatives and House of Councilors. Japan is divided into 47 prefectures, which are further divided into cities. Each prefecture has a governor and an assembly elected by the people. There are about eight to nine informal geographic regions in Japan, which do not serve any political purpose.

Major Cities of Japan
Tokyo: Tokyo is actually a prefecture and a metropolis with 23 municipal wards. It is also the capital of Japan and is the seat of Japanese government. Considered the third pillar of world economy after New York and London, Tokyo is also one of the most expensive cities of the world.

Yokohama:  It is the capital of Kanagawa prefecture and the second largest city of the country by population. It is also a major commercial hub of the country.

Osaka:  This is the capital of Osaka Prefecture. This city is the third largest of the country and is also one of the command centers of Japan's economy.

Kyoto: It is the capital of Kyoto Prefecture. It is also one of the academic centers of the country. Kyoto has the second largest transportation station in the country.

Beside the above mention cities Nagoya, Sapporo, Kobe, Kawasaki, Saitama, Hiroshima etc, are also prominent cities of Japan.

Japan's Prefectures And Their Capitals

Prefecture	Capital	Prefecture	Capital	Prefecture	Capital
Akita	Akita	way	Mito	Oita	Oita
Aichi	Nagoya	Hokkaido	Sapporo	Osaka	Osaka
Gifu	Gifu	Fukushima	Fukushima	Kagoshima	Kagoshima
Gunma	Maebashi	Nara	Nara	Tottori	Tottori
Kagawa	Takamatsu	Saga	Saga	Okinawa	Naha
Mie	Tsu	Shimane	Matsue	Saitama	Saitama
Tokushima	Tokushima	Tokyo	Shinjuku	Kumamoto	Kumamoto
Okayama	Okayama	Yamagata	Yamagata	Fukuoka	Fukuoka
Hiroshima	Hiroshima	Kochi	Kochi	Yamanashi	Yamanashi
Tochigi	Utsunomiya	Chiba	Chiba	Iwate	Morioka
Niigata	Niigata	Toyama	Toyama	Ishikawa	Kanazawa
Fukui	Fukui	Kanagawa	Yokohama	Nagano	Nagano
Nagasaki	Nagasaki	Miyagi	Sendai	Hyogo	Kobe
Ehime	Matsuyama	Kyoto	Kyoto	Shiga	Otsu
Aomori	Aomori	Miyazaki	Miyazaki	Shizuoka	Shizuoka
Yamaguchi	Yamaguchi	Wakayama	Wakayama

Prefecture	Population	Area(km.²)	Area(mi.²)	Region	Capital
Aichi	7,043,300	5,105	1,971	Chubu	Nagoya
Akita	1,189,279	11,609	4,482	Tohoku	Akita
Aomori	1,475,728	9,614	3,712	Tohoku	Aomori
Chiba	5,926,285	5,103	1,970	Kanto	Chiba
Ehime	1,493,092	5,664	2,187	Shikoku	Matsuyama
Fukui	828,944	4,188	1,617	Chubu	Fukui
Fukuoka	5,015,699	4,934	1,905	Kyushu	Fukuoka
Fukushima	2,126,935	13,781	5,321	Tohoku	Fukushima
Gifu	2,107,700	10,596	4,091	Chubu	Gifu
Gumma	2,024,852	6,356	2,454	Kanto	Maebashi
Hiroshima	2,878,915	8,453	3,264	Chugoku	Hiroshima
Hokkaido	5,683,062	78,515	30,315	Hokkaido	Sapporo
Hyogo	5,550,574	8,362	3,229	Kinki	Kobe
Ibaraki	2,985,676	6,087	2,350	Kanto	Mito
Ishikawa	1,180,977	4,196	1,620	Chubu	Kanazawa
Iwate	1,416,180	15,277	5,898	Tohoku	Morioka
Kagawa	1,022,890	1,877	725	Shikoku	Takamatsu
Kagoshima	1,786,194	9,149	3,532	Kyushu	Kagoshima
Kanagawa	8,489,974	2,384	920	Kanto	Yokohama
Kochi	813,949	7,106	2,744	Shikoku	Kochi
Kumamoto	1,859,344	7,383	2,851	Kyushu	Kumamoto
Kyoto	2,644,391	4,612	1,781	Kinki	Kyoto
Mie	1,857,339	5,774	2,229	Kinki	Tsu
Miyagi	2,365,320	7,288	2,814	Tohoku	Sendai
Miyazaki	1,170,007	7,734	2,986	Kyushu	Miyazaki
Nagano	2,215,168	13,585	5,245	Chubu	Nagano
Nagasaki	1,516,523	4,098	1,582	Kyushu	Nagasaki
Nara	1,442,795	3,692	1,425	Kinki	Nara
Niigata	2,475,733	12,577	4,856	Chubu	Niigata
Oita	1,221,140	6,331	2,444	Kyushu	Oita
Okayama	1,950,828	7,079	2,733	Chugoku	Okayama
Okinawa	1,318,220	2,244	866	Ryukyu	Naha
Osaka	8,805,081	1,845	712	Kinki	Osaka
Saga	876,654	2,416	933	Kyushu	Saga
Saitama	6,938,006	3,799	1,467	Kanto	Saitama
Shiga	1,342,832	4,016	1,551	Kinki	Otsu
Shimane	761,503	6,627	2,559	Chugoku	Matsue
Shizuoka	3,767,393	7,770	3,000	Chubu	Shizuoka
Tochigi	2,004,817	6,414	2,476	Kanto	Utsunomiya
Tokushima	824,108	4,144	1,600	Shikoku	Tokushima
Tokyo	12,064,101	2,145	828	Kanto	Tokyo
Tottori	613,289	3,492	1,348	Chugoku	Tottori
Toyama	1,120,851	4,252	1,642	Chubu	Toyama
Wakayama	1,069,912	4,722	1,823	Kinki	Wakayama
Yamagata	1,244,147	9,325	3,600	Tohoku	Yamagata
Yamaguchi	1,527,964	6,090	2,351	Chugoku	Yamaguchi
Yamanashi	888,172	4,463	1,723	Chubu	Kofu
47 divisions	126,925,843	372,273	143,732

Note  : - Population: 2000-10-01 census.

Last Updated On : November 15, 2012