List of the 47 Prefectures of Japan by Area

Japan is an island nation located in eastern Asia in the Pacific Ocean. It is to the east of China, Russia, North Korea and South Korea. Japan is an archipelago that is made up of over 6,500 islands, the largest of which are Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu,  and Shikoku. It is one of the worlds largest countries by population and it has one of the largest economies in the world due to its many international companies and highly advanced technologies. Because of Japans large size, it is divided into 47 different prefectures for local administration (map). Prefectures in Japan are the highest level of government that an area can have as it is right below the federal government. They are similar to the 50 states of the United States and the 28 states of India or the provinces of Canada. Each prefecture has its own governor and they are subdivided into districts and municipalities. The following is a list of Japans prefectures by area. For reference, capital cities have also been included. 1) HokkaidoArea: 32,221 square miles (83,452 sq km)Capital: Sapporo2) IwateArea: 5,899 square miles (15,278 sq km)Capital: Morioka3) FukushimaArea: 5,321 square miles (13,782 sq km)Capital: Fukushima City4) NaganoArea: 4,864 square miles (12,598 sq km)Capital: Nagano5) NiigataArea: 4,857 square miles (12,582 sq km)Capital: Niigata6) AkitaArea: 4,483 square miles (11,612 sq km)Capital: Akita7) GifuArea: 4,092 square miles (10,598 sq km)Capital: Gifu8) AomoriArea: 3,709 square miles (9,606 sq km)Capital: Aomori9) YamagataArea: 3,599 square miles (9,323 sq km)Capital: Yamagata10) KagoshimaArea: 3,526 square miles (9,132 sq km)Capital: Kagoshima11) HiroshimaArea: 3,273 square miles (8,477 sq km)Capital: Hiroshima12) HyogoArea: 3,240 square miles (8,392 sq km)Capital: Kobe13) ShizuokaArea: 2,829 square miles (7,328 sq km)Capital: Shizuoka14) MiyagiArea: 2,813 square miles (7,285 sq km)Capital: Sendai15) KochiArea: 2,743 square miles (7,104 sq km)Capital: Kochi16) OkayamaArea: 2,706 square miles (7,008 sq km)Capital: Okayama17) KumamotoArea: 2,667 square miles (6,908 sq km)Capital: Kumamoto18) ShimaneArea: 2,589 square miles (6,707 sq km)Capital: Matsue19) MiyazakiArea: 2,581 square miles (6,684 sq km)Capital: Miyazaki20) TochigiArea: 2,474 square miles (6,408 sq km)Capital: Utsunomiya21) GunmaArea: 2,457 square miles (6,363 sq km)Capital: Maebashi22) YamaguchiArea: 2,359 square miles (6,111 sq km)Capital: Yamaguchi23) IbarakiArea: 2,353 square miles (6,095 sq km)Capital: Mito24) OitaArea: 2,241 square miles (5,804 sq km)Capital: Oita25) MieArea: 2,224 square miles (5,761 sq km)Capital: Tsu26) EhimeArea: 2,191 square miles (5,676 sq km)Capital: Matsuyama27) ChibaArea: 1,991 square miles (5,156 sq km)Capital: Chiba28) AichiArea: 1,990 square miles (5,154 sq km)Capital: Nagoya29) FukuokaArea: 1,919 square miles (4,971 sq km)Capital: Fukuoka30) WakayamaArea: 1,824 square miles (4,725 sq km)Capital: Wakayama31) KyotoArea: 1,781 square miles (4,613 sq km)Capital: Kyoto32) YamanashiArea: 1,724 square miles (4,465 sq km)Capital: Kofu33) ToyamaArea: 1,640 square miles (4,247 sq km)Capital: Toyama34) FukuiArea: 1,617 square miles (4,189 sq km)Capital: Fukui35) IshikawaArea: 1,616 square miles (4,185 sq km)Capital: Kanazawa36) TokushimaArea: 1,600 square miles (4,145 sq km)Capital: Tokushima37) NagasakiArea: 1,580 square miles (4,093 sq km)Capital: Nagasaki38) ShigaArea: 1,551 square miles (4,017 sq km)Capital: Otsu39) SaitamaArea: 1,454 square miles (3,767 sq km)Capital: Saitama40) NaraArea: 1,425 square miles (3,691 sq km)Capital: Nara41) TottoriArea: 1,354 square miles (3,507 sq km)Capital: Tottori42) SagaArea: 942 square miles (2,439 sq km)Capital: Saga43) KanagawaArea: 932 square miles (2,415 sq km)Capital: Yokohama44) OkinawaArea: 877 square miles (2,271 sq km)Capital: Naha45) TokyoArea: 844 square miles (2,187 sq km)Capital: Shinjuku46) OsakaArea: 731 square miles (1,893 sq km)Capital: Osaka47) KagawaArea: 719 square miles (1,862 sq km)Capital: Ta kamatsuSources:Wikipedia.org. Prefectures of Japan - Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prefectures_of_Japan.