Revisiting the northern Tohoku Region, we’re now in Yamagata Prefecture! The capital city, also named Yamagata, was very prosperous during the Edo Period, famous for its many castles, the Fujiwara family who ruled the area during the Heian Period, and a feature in a few famous haiku poems. Yamagata Prefecture has long summers and winters […]

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The first feature from Shikoku is Tokushima Prefecture! Shikoku is the smallest of the four main islands of Japan, and Tokushima Prefecture is known for a number of things. Agriculture is their largest industry, and they are the largest produces of lotus and cauliflower in all of Japan but they also produce rice, carrots, and […]

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The first feature from the Chugoku Region is Shimane Prefecture! Located right next to Hiroshima, it includes a number of islands, a mountain range, two large lakes, and a number of national parks. Rice is produced in the mountainous areas, and seafood from the ocean. It’s not just nature though and the area has a […]

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Hyogo Prefecture borders Kyoto and Osaka, two of the most well known and distinct prefectures, yet still manages to be a well loved tourist destination. Hyogo’s two biggest attractions are without doubt Kobe beef and Himeji Castle, but there’s quite a lot of other stuff too! Hyogo Prefecture has a number of notable onsets and […]

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Spread over 1,000km and over 100 island, Okinawa Prefecture is known as one of Japan’s best holiday destinations thanks to it’s tropical climate and southern location. Considering Japan’s status as an ancient culture, Okinawa’s place in Japan’s history is relatively recent, becoming fully incorporated into Japan as a country in 1879. Previous to that, Okinawa […]

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Aichi Prefecture is a large hub between the Chubu and Tokai regions, with Nagoya as the capital city. You might know Nagoya as one of the main shinkansen stations to change at, but it also has a rich history and one of the most distinct regional cuisines in all of Japan. There’s a number of […]

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Located just south of Tokyo, Kanagawa Prefecture is a popular day trip destination and it’s only one hour from Shinjuku station! It’s home to the Shonan Fujisawa region which is popular for surfing, and a major attraction is Enoshima Island. Yokohama is the capital city, other popular locations are Hakone and Kamakura. Each city has […]

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Right in the centre of Honshu island, Gifu Prefecture is landlocked and surround by seven other prefectures. Within Gifu Prefecture is a number of smaller regions, consisting of the loosely defined Seino, Gifu, Chuno, Tono, and Hida areas. The most famous region is Hida, known for including the popular tourist destination Takayama and the city […]

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Kyoto Prefecture is super famous. There’s no dispute there. Found in the middle of Honshu Island and with its own distinct dialect and Kansai flair, it’s a huge tourist destination. It was previously the capital of Japan, and unlike most other prefectures, it has the suffix –fu instead of –ken (most prefectures are called name-ken to […]

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Hokkaido is actually technically not a “prefecture”. Prefecture names always end in -ken (県) but Hokkaido ends in -do (道) which means “circuit”. Hokkaido is the northern most island of Japan, and the capital city is Sapporo. I was lucky enough to have a week to spend in Sapporo quite recently and I went looking […]

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