Japan consists of the following, 47 prefectures, which can be broken up in too 1 metropolis - Tokyo, 1 circuit - Hokkaido, 2 urban prefectures - Osaka and Kyoto, and 43 other prefectures. This current system of prefectures was established by the Meiji government in 1871 after the abolition of the han system.

A little geography lesson courtesy of wikipedia -

Japan is an island nation in East Asia comprising a large stratovolcanic archipelago extending along the Pacific coast of Asia. Measured from the geographic coordinate system, Japan is 36° north of the equator and 138° east of the Prime Meridian. The country is north-northeast of China and Taiwan (separated by the East China Sea) and slightly east of Korea (separated by the Sea of Japan). The country is south of Siberia in Russia.

The main islands, sometimes called the “Home Islands”, are (from north to south) Hokkaidō, Honshū (the “mainland”), Shikoku and Kyūshū. There are also about 3,000 smaller islands, including Okinawa, and islets, some inhabited and others uninhabited. In total, as of 2006, Japan’s territory is 377,923.1 km², of which 374,834 km² is land and 3,091 km² water.

Japan’s area has been steadily increasing due to construction of artificial islands. This makes Japan’s total area slightly smaller than the U.S. state of Montana. Japan is bigger than Germany, Malaysia, New Zealand and the U.K., and is 1.7 times the size of Korea and 10 times the size of Taiwan.

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

This Post was guest written by Neil Duckett.

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