Japan’s nine regions, from a Tokyo base

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  Hokkaido 北海道

  One prefecture, the whole region

  Japan’s northernmost main island, and the only one of the four governed as a single prefecture — the whole island answers to Sapporo. It was frontier within living memory of the Meiji state, and Ainu land before that; the grid-planned cities, dairy pasture and wide horizons still read differently from the rest of the country. Winters are long and heavily snowed, which is much of the point.

  Cities

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    Sapporo 札幌

    Hokkaido’s largest city, where the Snow Festival, miso ramen and Sapporo Beer began.

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    Hakodate 函館

    A port city of the Goryokaku star fort, a morning market and Mount Hakodate’s night view.

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    Otaru 小樽

    A port near Sapporo with a canal of stone warehouses, glass studios and music boxes.

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    Asahikawa 旭川

    A city near Daisetsuzan, with soy-sauce ramen and Asahiyama Zoo’s winter penguin walk.

  From Tokyo The Hayabusa leaves Tokyo Station, runs the length of the Tohoku Shinkansen and continues onto the Hokkaido Shinkansen, through the undersea Seikan Tunnel to Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto — four hours, per JNTO — with the Hokuto limited express carrying on to Sapporo. For Sapporo itself most visitors fly, Haneda to New Chitose.

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  Tohoku 東北

  Aomori · Iwate · Miyagi · Akita · Yamagata · Fukushima

  The northern third of Honshu: six prefectures of mountain spine, rice country and long coastline, thinly peopled by Japanese standards once you leave Sendai, the region’s one big city. Its festival calendar is famous out of proportion to its population — Aomori’s Nebuta floats and Sendai’s Tanabata streamers, both in early August — and the Sea of Japan side takes some of the deepest snowfall in the country.

  Cities

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    Sendai 仙台

    Miyagi

    Date Masamune’s castle town, known for grilled beef tongue and his Zuihoden mausoleum.

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    Aomori 青森

    Aomori

    Port city on Aomori Bay, with the Sannai-Maruyama Jomon site and ferries to Hakodate.

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    Hirosaki 弘前

    Aomori

    Tsugaru castle town: apples, a cherry-filled castle park and Meiji-era Western buildings.

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    Aizuwakamatsu 会津若松

    Fukushima

    Aizu samurai castle town: Tsuruga Castle, sake and the Byakkotai graves on Mount Iimori.

  From Tokyo The Tohoku Shinkansen from Tokyo Station is the region’s spine: the Hayabusa reaches Sendai in a little over ninety minutes (JNTO’s figure) and runs through to Shin-Aomori, while coupled portions divide en route — the Komachi from the Hayabusa at Morioka for Akita, the Tsubasa from the Yamabiko at Fukushima for Yamagata.

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  Kanto 関東

  Ibaraki · Tochigi · Gunma · Saitama · Chiba · Tokyo · Kanagawa

  The region you are already standing in. Kanto is Japan’s largest plain, mountains on three sides and Tokyo Bay at its centre; seven prefectures share it, and the Tokyo–Yokohama conurbation across its southern half is the most populous urban area on earth. Its edges are where Tokyo goes on its days off — Nikko’s shrine forests in Tochigi, Kamakura on the Sagami coast, the onsen towns up in Gunma.

  Cities

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    Yokohama 横浜

    Kanagawa

    Kanagawa’s capital, a former treaty port with Chinatown and the towers of Minato Mirai.

    Yokohama Station
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    Kamakura 鎌倉

    Kanagawa

    Seat of the Kamakura shogunate, with an open-air bronze Great Buddha and Zen temples.

    Kamakura Station
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    Nikko 日光

    Tochigi

    A mountain city with the red Shinkyo bridge, Kegon Falls and Lake Chuzenji.

    Tobu Nikko Station
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    Kawagoe 川越

    Saitama

    Nicknamed Little Edo, with kura-style shophouses, the Bell of Time and a sweets alley.

    Hon-Kawagoe Station

  From Tokyo No Shinkansen required: this is the territory of ordinary lines from terminals you already use — Tobu from Asakusa to Nikko, Odakyu from Shinjuku towards Hakone, the JR Yokosuka Line from Tokyo Station to Kamakura.

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  Chubu 中部

  Niigata · Toyama · Ishikawa · Fukui · Yamanashi · Nagano · Gifu · Shizuoka · Aichi

  The wide middle of Honshu, and its roof: the three ranges known together as the Japan Alps run down the centre, with Mount Fuji standing on the Yamanashi–Shizuoka border. It reaches both seas, so it has two characters at once — Nagoya and the industrial Tokai coast on the Pacific side, and the Hokuriku shore on the Sea of Japan, where Kanazawa keeps its samurai and craft districts.

  Cities

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    Nagoya 名古屋

    Aichi

    Chubu’s largest city: Nagoya Castle’s golden shachihoko, Atsuta Shrine and miso katsu.

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    Kanazawa 金沢

    Ishikawa

    Ishikawa’s capital: Kenroku-en garden, its winter snow ropes, and Omicho Market seafood.

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    Matsumoto 松本

    Nagano

    A castle town with a black-lacquered National Treasure keep and Kamikochi to the west.

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    Takayama 高山

    Gifu

    Hida’s old castle town: merchant streets, a riverside morning market and festival floats.

  From Tokyo Three Shinkansen lines leave Tokyo Station into it: the Tokaido down the Pacific side through Shizuoka to Nagoya, the Hokuriku through Nagano and Toyama to Kanazawa and on to Tsuruga, and the Joetsu to Niigata. The Alps have their own door — the Azusa limited express from Shinjuku to Matsumoto.

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  Kansai 関西

  Mie · Shiga · Kyoto · Osaka · Hyogo · Nara · Wakayama

  The old capital region. Nara held the court in the eighth century and Kyoto from 794 until the emperor moved to Tokyo in 1868, and both keep the temple and shrine stock to prove it. Osaka is the counterweight — Japan’s second metropolis, a merchant city with its own dialect and its own food culture — with the port of Kobe to its west and the Ise shrines and Kumano routes in the peninsula to the south.

  Cities

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    Kyoto 京都

    Kyoto

    Geisha entertain in Gion’s teahouses, and gold leaf covers the top floors of Kinkaku-ji.

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    Osaka 大阪

    Osaka

    Visitors head to Dotonbori’s lit signboards, Osaka Castle and Universal Studios Japan.

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    Nara 奈良

    Nara

    Sika deer roam free in Nara Park, and Todai-ji’s hall houses a giant bronze Buddha.

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    Kobe 神戸

    Hyogo

    Hyogo’s capital, with Kitano’s old foreign houses, Nankinmachi Chinatown and Arima Onsen.

  From Tokyo The Tokaido Shinkansen from Tokyo Station is the way in: Nozomi trains call at Kyoto and finish at Shin-Osaka, 2 hours 21 minutes at the fastest by JR Central’s own figure.

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  Chugoku 中国

  Tottori · Shimane · Okayama · Hiroshima · Yamaguchi

  Westernmost Honshu, written with the same two characters Japanese uses for China. The Chugoku mountains split it into two long coasts: San’yo on the Seto Inland Sea carries the cities and the Shinkansen — Okayama, Hiroshima, the torii of Miyajima — while the San’in side on the Sea of Japan is far quieter, with the Izumo Taisha shrine, castle-town Matsue and the sand dunes at Tottori.

  Cities

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    Hiroshima 広島

    Hiroshima

    Rebuilt after the atomic bomb, it has the Peace Memorial Park, trams and okonomiyaki.

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    Okayama 岡山

    Okayama

    Castle town where Korakuen garden faces the black castle and kibi dango recall Momotaro.

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    Kurashiki 倉敷

    Okayama

    White storehouses line a canal in the Bikan quarter, and its Kojima district makes jeans.

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    Matsue 松江

    Shimane

    Lafcadio Hearn’s house still stands here, and Lake Shinji supplies its shijimi clams.

  From Tokyo Past Shin-Osaka the Tokaido Shinkansen becomes the San’yo Shinkansen, and Nozomi trains run through from Tokyo Station to Okayama and Hiroshima without a change. For the San’in coast, change at Okayama to the Yakumo limited express for Matsue and Izumoshi — or take the Sunrise Izumo, the overnight sleeper that leaves from Tokyo Station itself.

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  Shikoku 四国

  Tokushima · Kagawa · Ehime · Kochi

  The smallest of Japan’s four main islands, facing Honshu across the Seto Inland Sea, with a mountainous spine that splits its four prefectures onto separate coasts. Its defining institution is the 88-temple pilgrimage that circles the whole island. Kagawa’s sanuki udon and the vine bridges of Tokushima’s Iya Valley are the two names most visitors arrive knowing.

  Cities

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    Takamatsu 高松

    Kagawa

    Kagawa’s capital, with Ritsurin Garden and ferries out to the art museums of Naoshima.

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    Matsuyama 松山

    Ehime

    Ehime’s capital, with a hilltop castle and trams to the old Dogo Onsen bathhouse.

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    Kochi 高知

    Kochi

    A Pacific-coast castle town with an original keep, a Sunday market and seared bonito.

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    Tokushima 徳島

    Tokushima

    An old indigo-trading town, home of the Awa Odori dance and a ropeway up Mount Bizan.

  From Tokyo No Shinkansen reaches Shikoku, and the Great Seto Bridge from Okayama Prefecture is the only rail crossing. Take a Nozomi from Tokyo Station to Okayama and change there — the Marine Liner rapid crosses the bridge to Takamatsu, and the Shiokaze and Nanpu limited expresses run through to Matsuyama and Kochi.

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  Kyushu 九州

  Fukuoka · Saga · Nagasaki · Kumamoto · Oita · Miyazaki · Kagoshima

  The southwesternmost of the four main islands and Japan’s historic point of contact with the Asian mainland — Nagasaki was the one port kept open through the two centuries of seclusion. The ground is volcanic: the Aso caldera in the centre, Sakurajima smoking across the bay from Kagoshima, the hot springs of Beppu on the east coast. Fukuoka, the largest city, sits closer to Busan than to Tokyo.

  Cities

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    Fukuoka 福岡

    Fukuoka

    City on Hakata Bay known for tonkotsu ramen, mentaiko and evening yatai stalls in Nakasu.

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    Nagasaki 長崎

    Nagasaki

    Hillside city of Glover Garden, Megane Bridge and a Peace Park marking the atomic bombing.

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    Kumamoto 熊本

    Kumamoto

    Castle town around Kumamoto Castle, with Suizenji Jojuen garden and basashi horse meat.

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    Kagoshima 鹿児島

    Kagoshima

    Former seat of the Shimazu clan, with Sengan-en garden and trams on lawn-covered track.

  From Tokyo A Nozomi from Tokyo Station runs through to Hakata, Fukuoka’s rail hub, with no change of train — the Tokaido and San’yo Shinkansen work as one continuous railway. From Hakata the Kyushu Shinkansen carries on south to Kumamoto and Kagoshima-Chuo.

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  Okinawa 沖縄

  One prefecture, the whole region

  A subtropical island chain in the East China Sea, a separate kingdom — Ryukyu — until 1879, and still culturally its own place: its own cuisine, its own music, castle walls built in curves Honshu never used. Naha, on Okinawa Main Island, is the capital and the point of entry.

  Cities

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    Naha 那覇

    Ryukyu’s old port, with Kokusai-dori’s shops and fish cooked upstairs at Makishi market.

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    Ishigaki 石垣

    Hub of the Yaeyama Islands: glass-bottom boats on Kabira Bay and ferries to Taketomi.

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    Miyakojima 宮古島

    An island city of sea bridges, Yonaha Maehama’s white sand and the Higashi-hennazaki cape.

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    Nago 名護

    Northern Okinawa’s hub, with the Orion brewery and Nago Castle’s winter cherry blossoms.

  From Tokyo No railway crosses the sea; Okinawa is reached by air, most directly from Haneda to Naha. The prefecture’s only rail line is the Yui Rail monorail, which runs from inside Naha Airport through central Naha into neighbouring Urasoe.

Journey times are the operators’ or JNTO’s own published figures, read 1 September 2026; everything else here is the shape of the network rather than a timetable. Check times before you travel.