List of metropolitan areas in Japan

This is a list of metropolitan areas (都市圏, toshiken) in Japan by population as defined by the Statistics Bureau of Japan (SBJ) and the Center for Spatial Information Service of the University of Tokyo. The region containing most of the people in Japan between Tokyo and Fukuoka is often called the Taiheiyō Belt.

Population Census

Kantō MMA
Keihanshin Major Metropolitan Area

The Statistics Bureau of Japan (SBJ) defines a metropolitan area as one or more central cities and its associated outlying municipalities. To qualify as an outlying municipality, the municipality must have at least 1.5% of its resident population aged 15 and above commuting to school or work into one of the central cities. To qualify as a central city, a city must either be a designated city of any population or a non-designated city with a city proper population of at least 500,000. Metropolitan areas of designated cities are defined as "major metropolitan areas" (大都市圏) while those of non-designated cities are simply "metropolitan areas" (都市圏). If multiple central cities are close enough such that their outlying cities overlap, they are combined together and a single metropolitan area is defined rather than independently.

2015 Population Census

The metropolitan areas written in bold are the 11 major metropolitan areas of Japan.

  • 2015
  • MMA: Major Metropolitan Area
  • MA: Metropolitan Area
  • Source: Statistics Bureau of Japan[1]
RankAreaPrefectureCentral CityArea Population
01Kantō MMATokyo, Kanagawa Prefecture, Saitama Prefecture, Chiba Prefecture, Ibaraki Prefecture, Tochigi Prefecture, Gunma Prefecture, Yamanashi Prefecture23 special wards area, Yokohama, Sagamihara, Kawasaki, Chiba, Saitama37,273,866
02Keihanshin MMAOsaka Prefecture, Kyoto Prefecture, Hyōgo Prefecture, Nara Prefecture, Shiga Prefecture, Wakayama PrefectureOsaka, Sakai, Kobe, Kyoto19,302,746
03Chūkyō MMAAichi Prefecture, Gifu Prefecture, Mie PrefectureNagoya9,363,221
04Kitakyūshū-Fukuoka MMAFukuoka PrefectureFukuoka, Kitakyushu5,538,142
05Shizuoka-Hamamatsu MMAShizuoka PrefectureShizuoka, Hamamatsu2,842,151
06Sapporo MMAIshikari Subprefecture in HokkaidōSapporo2,636,254
07Sendai MMAMiyagi PrefectureSendai2,256,964
08Hiroshima MMAHiroshima PrefectureHiroshima2,096,745
09Utsunomiya MATochigi PrefectureUtsunomiya1,655,673
10Okayama MMAOkayama PrefectureOkayama1,639,414
11Kumamoto MMAKumamoto PrefectureKumamoto1,492,975
12Niigata MMANiigata PrefectureNiigata1,395,612
13Kagoshima MAKagoshima PrefectureKagoshima1,126,639
14Matsuyama MAEhime PrefectureMatsuyama706,883


2010 Population Census

The metropolitan areas written in bold are the 11 major metropolitan areas of Japan.

  • 2010
  • MMA: Major Metropolitan Area
  • MA: Metropolitan Area
  • Source: Statistics Bureau of Japan[2]
RankAreaPrefectureCentral CityArea Population
01Kantō MMATokyo, Kanagawa Prefecture, Saitama Prefecture, Chiba Prefecture, Ibaraki Prefecture, Tochigi Prefecture, Gunma Prefecture, Yamanashi Prefecture23 special wards area, Yokohama, Sagamihara, Kawasaki, Chiba, Saitama36,923,193
02Keihanshin MMAOsaka Prefecture, Kyoto Prefecture, Hyōgo Prefecture, Nara Prefecture, Shiga Prefecture, Wakayama PrefectureOsaka, Sakai, Kobe, Kyoto19,341,976
03Chūkyō MMAAichi Prefecture, Gifu Prefecture, Mie PrefectureNagoya9,107,414
04Kitakyūshū-Fukuoka MMAFukuoka PrefectureFukuoka, Kitakyushu5,515,427
05Shizuoka-Hamamatsu MMAShizuoka PrefectureShizuoka, Hamamatsu2,741,028
06Sapporo MMAIshikari Subprefecture in HokkaidōSapporo2,584,880
07Sendai MMAMiyagi PrefectureSendai2,169,757
08Hiroshima MMAHiroshima PrefectureHiroshima2,099,514
09Utsunomiya MATochigi PrefectureUtsunomiya1,886,898
10Okayama MMAOkayama PrefectureOkayama1,647,892
11Kumamoto MMAKumamoto PrefectureKumamoto1,476,435
12Niigata MMANiigata PrefectureNiigata1,421,694
13Kagoshima MAKagoshima PrefectureKagoshima1,152,748
14Matsuyama MAEhime PrefectureMatsuyama717,687

Changes from 2005 census The following changes to metropolitan area definitions were made in the 2010 Census report.[3]

  • New central cities in Kantō and Keihanshin major metropolitan areas
    • Sagamihara in the Kantō MMA and Sakai in the Keihanshin MMA have become designated cities in 2010 and 2006 respectively. These cities are already well within their MMAs and should not greatly alter their formation.
  • Niigata and Okayama major metropolitan areas
    • Niigata became a designated city in 2007 and Okayama became a designated city in 2009. These cities therefore formed major metropolitan areas in the 2010 census.
  • Shizuoka, Hamamatsu major metropolitan area
    • Hamamatsu also became a designated city in 2007. As its outlying areas overlap with Shizuoka, the two cities formed a single major metropolitan area in the 2010 census.
  • Utsunomiya metropolitan area
    • Utsunomiya qualified as a central city for the 2010 census, resulting from mergers with neighboring municipalities and subsequent population growth.

2005 Population Census

The metropolitan areas written in bold are the 8 major metropolitan areas of Japan.

  • October 1, 2005
  • MMA: Major Metropolitan Area
  • MA: Metropolitan Area
  • Source: Statistics Bureau of Japan[4]
RankAreaPrefectureCentral CityArea Population
01Kantō MMATokyo, Kanagawa Prefecture, Saitama Prefecture, Chiba Prefecture, Ibaraki Prefecture, Tochigi Prefecture, Gunma Prefecture, Yamanashi Prefecture23 special wards area, Yokohama, Kawasaki, Chiba, Saitama35,682,460
02Keihanshin MMAOsaka Prefecture, Kyoto Prefecture, Hyōgo Prefecture, Nara Prefecture, Shiga Prefecture, Wakayama PrefectureOsaka, Kobe, Kyoto18,768,395
03Chūkyō MMAAichi Prefecture, Gifu Prefecture, Mie PrefectureNagoya8,923,445
04Kitakyūshū-Fukuoka MMAFukuoka PrefectureFukuoka, Kitakyushu5,590,378
05Sapporo MMAIshikari Subprefecture in HokkaidōSapporo2,606,214
06Sendai MMAMiyagi PrefectureSendai2,289,656
07Hiroshima MMAHiroshima PrefectureHiroshima2,064,536
08Okayama MMAOkayama PrefectureOkayama1,646,757
09Kumamoto MAKumamoto PrefectureKumamoto1,462,409
10Niigata MMANiigata PrefectureNiigata1,442,958
11Shizuoka MMAShizuoka PrefectureShizuoka1,427,107
12Hamamatsu MAShizuoka PrefectureHamamatsu1,304,548
13Kagoshima MAKagoshima PrefectureKagoshima1,132,106
14Matsuyama MAEhime PrefectureMatsuyama724,048

Urban Employment Area

Metropolitan Employment Areas in Taiheiyo Belt
Tokyo MEA
  Kobe MEA,   Osaka MEA,
  Kyoto MEA,   Nagoya MEA

Urban Employment Area is another definition of metropolitan areas, defined by the Center for Spatial Information Service, the University of Tokyo. The Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry defined 233 areas for the UEAs of Japan.

  • 2010 standards
  • MEA: Metropolitan Employment Area
  • Source: Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan,[5] Center for Spatial Information Science, the University of Tokyo[6]
2010 Standards
Metropolitan areaCentral cityPrefecture Area
(km2)		 GDP (bn JPY) Population
20102005199519801965
Tokyo MEASpecial wards of Tokyo, Saitama, Chiba, Tachikawa, Musashino, Yokohama, Kawasaki, AtsugiIbaraki, Saitama, Chiba, Tokyo, Kanagawa, Yamanashi 10,404 157,820 34,834,167 33,652,998 31,707,138 27,853,640 20,156,066
Osaka MEAOsaka, Sakai, Higashiōsaka, Kadoma, MoriguchiKyoto, Osaka, Hyōgo, Nara, Wakayama 4,291 45,362 12,273,041 12,208,161 12,039,181 11,365,385 8,721,257
Nagoya MEANagoya, KomakiGifu, Aichi, Mie 2,792 22,497 5,490,453 5,385,383 5,151,367 4,713,287 3,708,670
Kyoto MEAKyotoShiga, Kyoto 2,836 10,117 2,679,094 2,653,421 2,582,733 2,395,626 1,897,517
Fukuoka MEAFukuokaFukuoka 1,283 8,922 2,495,552 2,409,904 2,196,463 1,768,587 1,165,151
Kobe MEAKobeHyōgo 1,245 8,427 2,431,076 2,417,914 2,309,076 2,130,237 1,697,644
Sapporo MEASapporo, OtaruIshikari Subprefecture, Shiribeshi Subprefecture in Hokkaido 3,205 7,438 2,341,599 2,325,653 2,198,255 1,798,624 1,151,946
Sendai MEASendaiMiyagi 2,077 5,414 1,574,942 1,549,746 1,466,989 1,202,186 850,828
Okayama MEAOkayamaOkayama 2,710 5,539 1,532,146 1,523,286 1,486,785 1,391,802 1,112,534
Maebashi MEAMaebashi, Takasaki, IsesakiGunma 2,653 5,252 1,453,528 1,459,895 1,439,840 1,327,539 1,142,579
Hiroshima MEAHiroshimaHiroshima 1,811 5,414 1,411,848 1,395,530 1,358,060 1,197,465 838,010
Kitakyushu MEAKitakyushuFukuoka 1,222 4,889 1,370,169 1,392,145 1,429,463 1,459,479 1,397,618
Hamamatsu MEAHamamatsuShizuoka 2,051 4,763 1,133,879 1,139,189 1,086,360 972,356 818,902
Utsunomiya MEAUtsunomiyaTochigi 3,851 4,454 1,120,057 1,121,696 1,093,966 973,728 817,786
Kumamoto MEAKumamotoKumamoto 1,604 3,490 1,102,398 1,089,366 1,053,231 924,422 795,803
Niigata MEANiigataNiigata 2,138 3,805 1,071,152 1,082,159 1,073,394 1,002,106 875,150
Shizuoka MEAShizuokaShizuoka 1,677 4,024 1,001,597 1,008,368 1,016,145 966,153 808,584

See also

References

  1. ↑ Statistics Bureau of Japan, 2015 Census Final Data
  2. ↑ Statistics Bureau of Japan, 2010 Census Final Data
  3. ↑ Statistics Bureau of Japan
  4. ↑ Statistics Bureau of Japan, 2005 Census Final Data
  5. ↑ "地域経済の将来動向分析に関する調査研究" [Survey on the future trend analysis of the regional economy] (in Japanese). Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan. Retrieved 2017-04-15.
  6. ↑ "Metropolitan Employment Area (MEA) Data". Center for Spatial Information Science, the University of Tokyo. Retrieved 2017-04-15.
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