Japan prefectures checklist: how many of the 47 have you visited?

Japan has 47 prefectures, and almost everyone's first trip covers the same few. Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, maybe a day in Nara. Which is a fine start, but it leaves 43 you haven't seen, and the country is a lot bigger and a lot more varied than the Tokaido line makes it look.

Here's an easy way to see where you actually stand. Go through the 47 below, tick the ones you've been to, and see your number. Whatever you tick saves on this device, so you can come back and finish later.

Prefer to see it than list it? The free Japan prefectures visited map colors in every prefecture you pick and shows your percentage, the same count in map form.

The checklist

Here's all 47. Tick the ones you've been to and your progress saves in your browser.

Want it on a map instead? Open the free Japan prefectures visited map and the prefectures you ticked come with you, already filled in, ready to save or share.

Hokkaido

One prefecture that's also an entire island, and about a fifth of Japan's land. Sapporo, the snow, the summer flower fields, the seafood. It's a separate trip from anything else on this list, which is why so many people have every other region ticked and this one still empty.

Tohoku

This is the part of Japan people mean when they say they want to get away from the crowds: Aomori, Iwate, Miyagi, Akita, Yamagata and Fukushima, with Sendai as the hub. The Nebuta festival, the Dewa Sanzan mountains, the onsen towns and some of the best snow in the country.

Kanto

Where almost every trip to Japan starts, and where a lot of them stop: Tokyo and the prefectures ringing it, Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma, Saitama, Chiba and Kanagawa. If you flew into Narita or Haneda you already have two, because Narita is in Chiba. Nikko is in Tochigi, Kamakura and Hakone are in Kanagawa, and a lot of people tick those without ever noticing they left Tokyo.

Chubu

Where the Alps rise straight out of the middle of the country: Niigata, Toyama, Ishikawa, Fukui, Yamanashi, Nagano, Gifu, Shizuoka and Aichi. Kanazawa, Takayama and Shirakawa-go, Nagoya, and the Fuji Five Lakes. Ride the Shinkansen between Tokyo and Kyoto and you pass through several of these whether you stop or not.

Kansai

The Japan on the postcards, old capitals and temples and deer in the street: Mie, Shiga, Kyoto, Osaka, Hyogo, Nara and Wakayama. Most first trips get three of them. The other four are close enough for a day out, with Himeji Castle in Hyogo, Lake Biwa in Shiga, the Kumano Kodo trail in Wakayama and Ise Shrine in Mie.

Chugoku

Home to Japan's oldest shrine and its biggest sand dunes: Tottori, Shimane, Okayama, Hiroshima and Yamaguchi. Hiroshima and Miyajima usually get ticked. Then there's Izumo Taisha in Shimane, the dunes in Tottori, Korakuen garden in Okayama, and the Motonosumi shrine gates in Yamaguchi.

Shikoku

The smallest of the four main islands, and the one most people skip: Tokushima, Kagawa, Ehime and Kochi. Home of the 88-temple pilgrimage, the Iya Valley vine bridges, Dogo Onsen and Kagawa's udon. Which makes it four quick wins on this list.

Kyushu and Okinawa

Volcanoes, hot springs and the warm end of the country: Fukuoka, Saga, Nagasaki, Kumamoto, Oita, Miyazaki, Kagoshima, and then Okinawa out in the subtropics. Aso, Beppu, Sakurajima and the ramen in Fukuoka. Okinawa is a different climate, a different history and a different kitchen, and it counts as one prefecture like all the rest.

See the whole collection

Every prefecture has its own stamp in Stampie's Japan Prefectures collection, ready to add to your journal the day you visit.

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Japan PrefecturesPRO

47 stamps

Quick note: Stampie is a small indie project made by people who love travel and collecting stamps. The prefecture designs are our own, not official symbols or crests. They're just a fun way to mark where you've been. 🗺️

The checklist and the map are a nice start, but they only live on this one device. To keep your prefectures for good, sync them across your phone and the web and line them up next to every country and city you've been to, that's what Stampie is for. Each prefecture becomes a stamp in your journal, with your own photos and the dates you went, there whenever you want to look back.

So, how many of the 47 have you got?

FAQ

How many prefectures are there in Japan? Japan has 47 prefectures. They come in four types that all count the same for travel: one do (Hokkaido), two fu (Kyoto and Osaka), one to (Tokyo) and 43 ken. The checklist above covers all 47.

Is there a free Japan prefectures checklist? Yes. The checklist above lets you tick off every prefecture you've been to, saves your progress on your device, and needs no account. You can also download it as a printable PDF, or color your prefectures in on the free Japan prefectures visited map.

Can I download or print the Japan prefectures checklist as a PDF? Yes. Tick off your prefectures above and hit Download as PDF for a clean, printable page with a checkbox next to all 47 and your progress at the top.

Does passing through on the Shinkansen count? That's up to you. Some people only count a prefecture where they got off and did something, others count anywhere they set foot. Pick a rule and stick to it so your number always means the same thing. If you count every prefecture the Tokaido line crosses, your total jumps by several straight away.

Which prefectures do most people miss? Tohoku, Shikoku and the Sea of Japan side. They're further from the usual Tokyo to Kyoto to Osaka route, so most people finish a couple of trips to Japan with those still blank.

What's the best way to track the Japanese prefectures you've visited? Something you can update in the moment beats a list you keep up from memory. Stampie turns each prefecture into a stamp and fills in a Japan map as you go, synced across your phone and the web.