Prefectures of Japan, matched to countries
Natural Earth’s file divides Japan into 47 prefectures. Below, each is drawn at true scale and matched to the country closest to it in area and in population.
In Japanese law Tokyo is a metropolis, Hokkaido a circuit, and Kyoto and Osaka urban prefectures; all 47 are listed as prefectures here. Islands belong to their prefectures wherever they lie: the outline of Tokyo reaches the Ogasawara Islands and Minamitorishima, that of Okinawa reaches Yonaguni.
Part of the boundary of Hokkaido (Japan) and Okinawa is disputed. Size Versus draws Natural Earth’s de facto outline, the boundary as it is held on the ground, and takes no position on it.
Population: the 2021 figures Wikidata holds, for 38 of the 47 prefectures. The only figure it has for Hokkaido (Japan) (2014), Gifu (2020), Mie (2020), Fukuoka (2020), Tokushima (2020), Ishikawa (2020), Kanagawa (2020), Tokyo (2022) and Kagawa (2020) is a different year, and it is shown with that year. Every population on these pages carries its year; they are not one count taken on one day.
At a glance
- Hokkaido (Japan), the largest, is 42.5× the size of Kagawa, the smallest.
- The five largest, Hokkaido (Japan), Iwate, Fukushima, Nagano, Niigata, cover 36% of Japan.
- None of the 47 is larger than the United Kingdom (244,000 km²).
- None of the 47 is larger than France (548,000 km²).
- Tokyo, the most crowded, has 6,534 people per km²: 94.8× Hokkaido (Japan), the least crowded (69).
- Half of the people counted live in the 8 most populous (Tokyo, Kanagawa, Osaka, Aichi and 4 more), which cover 29% of the area; the years of the figures differ.
- 5 of the 47 have more people than the median of the 38 European countries listed here (6.6 million).
- 5 of the 47 are within 10% in area of a European country, among them Hokkaido (Japan) and Czechia (1.00×), Nagano and Montenegro (1.00×), Fukushima and Montenegro (1.02×).
Every prefecture matched to a country
Largest first. The matches are the countries closest in area and in population from Natural Earth’s country list; contested places and dependencies are never used as matches. Population is the newest figure Wikidata holds, with its year.
- Hokkaido (Japan)78,800 km² · 5.4 million (2014)Size ofCzechia1.00× · 78,800 km²People ofSlovakia1.00× · 5.4 million
- Iwate15,500 km² · 1.2 million (2021)Size ofEast Timor1.03× · 15,100 km²People ofEswatini0.98× · 1.2 million
- Fukushima14,000 km² · 1.8 million (2021)Size ofMontenegro1.02× · 13,700 km²People ofNorth Macedonia0.99× · 1.8 million
- Nagano13,700 km² · 2.0 million (2021)Size ofMontenegro1.00× · 13,700 km²People ofGabon1.00× · 2.0 million
- Niigata12,500 km² · 2.2 million (2021)Size ofBahamas0.99× · 12,600 km²People ofSlovenia1.06× · 2.1 million
- Akita11,700 km² · 946,000 (2021)Size ofVanuatu0.95× · 12,300 km²People ofFiji1.02× · 926,000
- Gifu10,700 km² · 2.0 million (2020)Size ofGambia1.02× · 10,500 km²People ofLesotho0.98× · 2.0 million
- Aomori9,660 km² · 1.2 million (2021)Size ofLebanon0.97× · 10,000 km²People ofEswatini1.00× · 1.2 million
- Yamagata9,240 km² · 1.1 million (2021)Size ofLebanon0.92× · 10,000 km²People ofDjibouti0.92× · 1.2 million
- Kagoshima8,850 km² · 1.6 million (2021)Size ofLebanon88% · 10,000 km²People ofEast Timor1.13× · 1.4 million
- Hyogo8,380 km² · 5.5 million (2021)Size ofLebanon84% · 10,000 km²People ofSlovakia1.01× · 5.4 million
- Hiroshima8,300 km² · 2.8 million (2021)Size ofLebanon83% · 10,000 km²People ofAlbania0.99× · 2.8 million
- Miyazaki7,860 km² · 1.1 million (2021)Size ofLebanon79% · 10,000 km²People ofDjibouti0.92× · 1.2 million
- Shizuoka7,670 km² · 3.6 million (2021)Size ofLebanon77% · 10,000 km²People ofEritrea1.03× · 3.5 million
- Miyagi7,500 km² · 2.3 million (2021)Size ofBrunei1.31× · 5,720 km²People ofMoldova0.95× · 2.4 million
- Kumamoto7,250 km² · 1.7 million (2021)Size ofBrunei1.27× · 5,720 km²People ofNorth Macedonia0.94× · 1.8 million
- Kochi7,090 km² · 689,000 (2021)Size ofBrunei1.24× · 5,720 km²People ofLuxembourg1.00× · 691,000
- Okayama6,930 km² · 1.9 million (2021)Size ofBrunei1.21× · 5,720 km²People ofGuinea-Bissau1.01× · 1.9 million
- Shimane6,880 km² · 665,000 (2021)Size ofBrunei1.20× · 5,720 km²People ofLuxembourg0.96× · 691,000
- Oita6,550 km² · 1.1 million (2021)Size ofBrunei1.15× · 5,720 km²People ofDjibouti0.97× · 1.2 million
- Tochigi6,480 km² · 1.9 million (2021)Size ofBrunei1.13× · 5,720 km²People ofGuinea-Bissau1.04× · 1.9 million
- Gunma6,340 km² · 1.9 million (2021)Size ofBrunei1.11× · 5,720 km²People ofLesotho0.96× · 2.0 million
- Ibaraki6,340 km² · 2.9 million (2021)Size ofBrunei1.11× · 5,720 km²People ofLithuania1.00× · 2.9 million
- Yamaguchi6,020 km² · 1.3 million (2021)Size ofBrunei1.05× · 5,720 km²People ofCyprus0.99× · 1.3 million
- Mie5,820 km² · 1.8 million (2020)Size ofBrunei1.02× · 5,720 km²People ofNorth Macedonia0.96× · 1.8 million
- Ehime5,630 km² · 1.3 million (2021)Size ofBrunei0.99× · 5,720 km²People ofCyprus0.98× · 1.3 million
- Chiba5,110 km² · 6.3 million (2021)Size ofTrinidad and Tobago1.00× · 5,120 km²People ofRepublic of the Congo1.02× · 6.1 million
- Fukuoka5,050 km² · 5.1 million (2020)Size ofTrinidad and Tobago0.99× · 5,120 km²People ofNicaragua0.99× · 5.1 million
- Aichi4,940 km² · 7.5 million (2021)Size ofTrinidad and Tobago0.96× · 5,120 km²People ofSierra Leone1.00× · 7.6 million
- Kyoto4,610 km² · 2.6 million (2021)Size ofTrinidad and Tobago0.90× · 5,120 km²People ofNamibia1.01× · 2.5 million
- Yamanashi4,510 km² · 804,000 (2021)Size ofTrinidad and Tobago88% · 5,120 km²People ofBhutan1.02× · 787,000
- Wakayama4,430 km² · 911,000 (2021)Size ofCape Verde1.13× · 3,930 km²People ofComoros1.01× · 902,000
- Toyama4,370 km² · 1.0 million (2021)Size ofCape Verde1.11× · 3,930 km²People ofFiji1.11× · 926,000
- Tokushima4,250 km² · 722,000 (2020)Size ofCape Verde1.08× · 3,930 km²People ofLuxembourg1.04× · 691,000
- Fukui4,220 km² · 765,000 (2021)Size ofCape Verde1.07× · 3,930 km²People ofBhutan0.97× · 787,000
- Ishikawa4,110 km² · 1.1 million (2020)Size ofCape Verde1.05× · 3,930 km²People ofDjibouti0.98× · 1.2 million
- Shiga4,010 km² · 1.4 million (2021)Size ofCape Verde1.02× · 3,930 km²People ofEast Timor1.01× · 1.4 million
- Nagasaki3,990 km² · 1.3 million (2021)Size ofCape Verde1.02× · 3,930 km²People ofCyprus0.97× · 1.3 million
- Saitama3,880 km² · 7.3 million (2021)Size ofCape Verde0.99× · 3,930 km²People ofLibya0.99× · 7.4 million
- Nara3,850 km² · 1.3 million (2021)Size ofCape Verde0.98× · 3,930 km²People ofCyprus0.98× · 1.3 million
- Tottori3,700 km² · 550,000 (2021)Size ofCape Verde0.94× · 3,930 km²People ofCape Verde0.99× · 556,000
- Saga2,450 km² · 810,000 (2021)Size ofLuxembourg0.94× · 2,610 km²People ofBhutan1.03× · 787,000
- Kanagawa2,380 km² · 9.2 million (2020)Size ofLuxembourg0.91× · 2,610 km²People ofSwitzerland1.01× · 9.1 million
- Tokyo2,180 km² · 14.3 million (2022)Size ofMauritius1.09× · 2,000 km²People ofBenin1.01× · 14.1 million
- Okinawa2,150 km² · 1.5 million (2021)Size ofMauritius1.07× · 2,000 km²People ofEast Timor1.04× · 1.4 million
- Osaka1,860 km² · 8.8 million (2021)Size ofMauritius0.93× · 2,000 km²People ofPapua New Guinea0.99× · 8.9 million
- Kagawa1,850 km² · 949,000 (2020)Size ofMauritius0.93× · 2,000 km²People ofFiji1.02× · 926,000
Too small to see on the map
At the scale of the map these units are a few pixels wide or less, so they are ringed on the map and drawn here as discs of true relative area. Each is matched to the small countries and island nations, not to the countries of 1,000 km² and more.
- Saga2,450 km² · official 2,4400.94× Luxembourg2,610 km²
- Kanagawa2,380 km² · official 2,4200.91× Luxembourg2,610 km²
- Tokyo2,180 km² · official 2,1901.09× Mauritius2,000 km²
- Okinawa2,150 km² · official 2,2801.07× Mauritius2,000 km²
- Osaka1,860 km² · official 1,9100.93× Mauritius2,000 km²
- Kagawa1,850 km² · official 1,8600.93× Mauritius2,000 km²
The closest matches in size
How crowded they are
TokyoHokkaido (Japan)
Beside the regions of other countries
Every prefecture also has a closest match, by area and by people, among the 348 regions of the other 12 countries. All the matches, in both directions, are on one page.
Sources and method
- Outlines
- Natural Earth, 1:10m Admin 1 - States, Provinces, public domain. The 47 listed are all of the features Natural Earth has for Japan. In Natural Earth’s file Okinawa includes the Amami Islands, 1,150 km² that belong to Kagoshima; the outlines here count them in Kagoshima.
- Boundary
- De facto, as drawn by Natural Earth.
- Area
- Measured on the WGS84 ellipsoid from the full-detail outlines, shown rounded. The 47 areas add up to 374,000 km², within 0.1% of the country’s measured area.
- Official figures
- Area, population and capital from Wikidata (CC0), fetched 2026-11-12. Population is the 2021 figure where Wikidata has it, otherwise its newest; the year is shown.
- Labels checked
- Natural Earth’s labels were compared with Wikidata’s. Natural Earth gives Kyoto, Osaka and Hokkaido (Japan) another type than Wikidata does; the page follows Wikidata.
- Data built
- 2026-11-12