Japan Administrative Divisions

What is the hierarchy of administrative divisions in Japan?

Japan’s administrative system is organized into several levels. The country is divided into prefectures, which are the main administrative units. Each prefecture is further subdivided into municipalities, which include cities, towns, and villages. Some large cities, known as designated cities, are further divided into wards. In rural areas, towns and villages are grouped into districts, which are administrative groupings but do not have their own governing bodies. Regions are commonly used for geographic reference but are not official administrative units.

Here’s a breakdown of the hierarchy:

Prefectures (都道府県): Japan is divided into prefectures, which are the main administrative units of the country.

Municipalities: Each prefecture is subdivided into municipalities, which include cities, towns, and villages.

Designated Cities and Wards: Some large cities are designated cities and are further divided into wards, which serve as administrative subdivisions within those cities.

Districts (郡): In rural areas, towns and villages are grouped into districts, which are administrative groupings but do not have their own governing bodies.

List of Japan's administrative divisions with their counts and names

These are the summarized administrative divisions. The full dataset is available in the Download Center.

iso	country	admin level 1	admin level 2	admin level 3	admin level 4
JP	Japan	Chubu (Region)	9 Prefectures	144 Cities, 4 Designated cities, 63 Districts, 7 Core cities, 9 Special cities	102 Towns, 30 Wards, 50 Villages
JP	Japan	Chugoku (Region)	5 Prefectures	29 Districts, 2 Designated cities, 3 Core cities, 3 Special cities, 46 Cities	12 Wards, 49 Towns, 4 Villages
JP	Japan	Hokkaido (Region)	1 Prefecture	1 Designated city, 2 Core cities, 32 Cities, 62 Districts	10 Wards, 129 Towns, 15 Villages
JP	Japan	Kansai (Region)	7 Prefectures	102 Cities, 10 Special cities, 42 Districts, 4 Designated cities, 9 Core cities	15 Villages, 51 Wards, 87 Towns
JP	Japan	Kanto (Region)	7 Prefectures	153 Cities, 15 Special cities, 32 Special wards, 40 Districts, 5 Designated cities, 7 Core cities	15 Villages, 44 Wards, 91 Towns
JP	Japan	Kyushu (Region)	8 Prefectures	109 Cities, 1 Special city, 3 Designated cities, 53 Districts, 5 Core cities	118 Towns, 19 Wards, 37 Villages
JP	Japan	Shikoku (Region)	4 Prefectures	26 Districts, 35 Cities, 3 Core cities	50 Towns, 7 Villages
JP	Japan	Tohoku (Region)	6 Prefectures	1 Designated city, 2 Special cities, 55 Districts, 5 Core cities, 69 Cities	116 Towns, 34 Villages, 5 Wards

Why is building an Administrative Divisions Database complex?

The complexity arises from inconsistent global standards, frequent boundary changes, non-uniform naming conventions (e.g., “suburb” in Australia vs. “county” in the US), and variations in administrative levels across countries. Integrating and harmonizing data from multiple sources requires advanced normalization, versioning, and geospatial validation techniques.

How does GeoPostcodes solve the problem for you?

Our standardized database overcomes the complexity of different administrative division
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each country’s unique administrative hierarchy.

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