Most people plan a trip to Japan by city: Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka. Planning by prefecture instead gives you a much clearer sense of what you are actually covering, and it explains why some itineraries feel rushed while others flow.
The eight regions
Japan's 47 prefectures group into eight regions, running from north to south.
- Hokkaido — a single prefecture and the northernmost. Snow, mountains and space.
- Tohoku — six prefectures across the north of the main island. Quiet, mountainous, known for hot springs and heavy winters.
- Kanto — seven prefectures including Tokyo. The most densely populated part of the country.
- Chubu — nine prefectures in the centre, including the Japanese Alps and Mount Fuji.
- Kansai — seven prefectures including Kyoto, Osaka and Nara. The historic heart.
- Chugoku — five prefectures in the west, including Hiroshima.
- Shikoku — four prefectures on the smallest main island, known for its pilgrimage route.
- Kyushu — seven prefectures in the southwest, volcanic and hot-spring rich. Okinawa, further south, is counted separately.
What a first trip actually covers
A typical ten-day first visit covers Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka, plus perhaps a day in Nara or Hakone. In prefecture terms that is Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, and one of Nara or Kanagawa — four prefectures out of 47.
That is not a criticism of the itinerary; it is a good route. But seeing it as four of 47 reframes the trip honestly. Japan is not a country you finish.
Planning by rail
The Shinkansen network makes east-to-west travel along the Pacific side straightforward, which is why the standard route follows it. Moving north into Tohoku or south into Kyushu takes deliberate planning and more time, which is why both stay relatively quiet.
If you have been to Japan once and are returning, choosing a region rather than a list of cities is the single best change you can make. A week in Tohoku or Kyushu covers more prefectures than a week retracing Tokyo and Kyoto, and feels like a different country.
A note on Okinawa
Okinawa is a prefecture, but it does not behave like the others. It sits roughly 1,500km southwest of Tokyo, closer to Taipei than to Osaka, and reaching it means flying. Its history as the Ryukyu Kingdom gives it a distinct culture, cuisine and architecture, and the climate is subtropical rather than temperate.
Practically, this means Okinawa is a trip in its own right rather than an addition to a mainland route. Travellers working through the prefectures often leave it until late, then find it was the one that felt least like the rest of the country.
Tracking the 47
Because the prefectures are a fixed, countable set, Japan lends itself to being tracked in a way that most countries do not. Working through them becomes a long-term project rather than a single trip.
The Japan Scratch Map is built around exactly that: all 47 prefectures under a gold foil layer, revealed one at a time as you visit. It is designed to be framed and hung, so the gaps stay visible.
If your travel is not focused on one country, the World Scratch Map covers Japan alongside everywhere else. Both are in Scratch Travel Maps, and our guide to choosing an edition covers the trade-off in more detail.