List of metropolitan areas in Japan (Redirected from List of metropolitan areas in Japan by population)

Kantō Major Metropolitan Area
Keihanshin MMA

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

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 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
Rank Area Prefecture Central City Area Population
01 Kantō MMA Tokyo, Kanagawa Prefecture, Saitama Prefecture, Chiba Prefecture, Ibaraki Prefecture, Tochigi Prefecture, Gunma Prefecture, Yamanashi Prefecture 23 special wards area, Yokohama, Sagamihara, Kawasaki, Chiba, Saitama 37,273,866
02 Keihanshin MMA Osaka Prefecture, Kyoto Prefecture, Hyōgo Prefecture, Nara Prefecture, Shiga Prefecture, Wakayama Prefecture Osaka, Sakai, Kobe, Kyoto 19,302,746
03 Chūkyō MMA Aichi Prefecture, Gifu Prefecture, Mie Prefecture Nagoya 9,363,221
04 Fukuoka-Kitakyushu MMA Fukuoka Prefecture Fukuoka, Kitakyushu 5,538,142
05 Shizuoka-Hamamatsu MMA Shizuoka Prefecture Shizuoka, Hamamatsu 2,842,151
06 Sapporo MMA Ishikari Subprefecture in Hokkaidō Sapporo 2,636,254
07 Sendai MMA Miyagi Prefecture Sendai 2,256,964
08 Hiroshima MMA Hiroshima Prefecture Hiroshima 2,096,745
09 Utsunomiya MA Tochigi Prefecture Utsunomiya 1,655,673
10 Okayama MMA Okayama Prefecture Okayama 1,639,414
11 Kumamoto MMA Kumamoto Prefecture Kumamoto 1,492,975
12 Niigata MMA Niigata Prefecture Niigata 1,395,612
13 Kagoshima MA Kagoshima Prefecture Kagoshima 1,126,639
14 Matsuyama MA Ehime Prefecture Matsuyama 706,883

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
Rank Area Prefecture Central City Area Population
01 Kantō MMA Tokyo, Kanagawa Prefecture, Saitama Prefecture, Chiba Prefecture, Ibaraki Prefecture, Tochigi Prefecture, Gunma Prefecture, Yamanashi Prefecture 23 special wards area, Yokohama, Sagamihara, Kawasaki, Chiba, Saitama 36,923,193
02 Keihanshin MMA Osaka Prefecture, Kyoto Prefecture, Hyōgo Prefecture, Nara Prefecture, Shiga Prefecture, Wakayama Prefecture Osaka, Sakai, Kobe, Kyoto 19,341,976
03 Chūkyō MMA Aichi Prefecture, Gifu Prefecture, Mie Prefecture Nagoya 9,107,414
04 Fukuoka-Kitakyushu MMA Fukuoka Prefecture Fukuoka, Kitakyushu 5,515,427
05 Shizuoka-Hamamatsu MMA Shizuoka Prefecture Shizuoka, Hamamatsu 2,741,028
06 Sapporo MMA Ishikari Subprefecture in Hokkaidō Sapporo 2,584,880
07 Sendai MMA Miyagi Prefecture Sendai 2,169,757
08 Hiroshima MMA Hiroshima Prefecture Hiroshima 2,099,514
09 Utsunomiya MA Tochigi Prefecture Utsunomiya 1,886,898
10 Okayama MMA Okayama Prefecture Okayama 1,647,892
11 Kumamoto MMA Kumamoto Prefecture Kumamoto 1,476,435
12 Niigata MMA Niigata Prefecture Niigata 1,421,694
13 Kagoshima MA Kagoshima Prefecture Kagoshima 1,152,748
14 Matsuyama MA Ehime Prefecture Matsuyama 717,687

Changes from 2005 census

The following changes to metropolitan area definitions were made in the 2010 Census report.

  • 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
Rank Area Prefecture Central City Area Population
01 Kantō MMA Tokyo, Kanagawa Prefecture, Saitama Prefecture, Chiba Prefecture, Ibaraki Prefecture, Tochigi Prefecture, Gunma Prefecture, Yamanashi Prefecture 23 special wards area, Yokohama, Kawasaki, Chiba, Saitama 35,682,460
02 Keihanshin MMA Osaka Prefecture, Kyoto Prefecture, Hyōgo Prefecture, Nara Prefecture, Shiga Prefecture, Wakayama Prefecture Osaka, Kobe, Kyoto 18,768,395
03 Chūkyō MMA Aichi Prefecture, Gifu Prefecture, Mie Prefecture Nagoya 8,923,445
04 Fukuoka-Kitakyushu MMA Fukuoka Prefecture Fukuoka, Kitakyushu 5,590,378
05 Sapporo MMA Ishikari Subprefecture in Hokkaidō Sapporo 2,606,214
06 Sendai MMA Miyagi Prefecture Sendai 2,289,656
07 Hiroshima MMA Hiroshima Prefecture Hiroshima 2,064,536
08 Okayama MMA Okayama Prefecture Okayama 1,646,757
09 Kumamoto MA Kumamoto Prefecture Kumamoto 1,462,409
10 Niigata MMA Niigata Prefecture Niigata 1,442,958
11 Shizuoka MMA Shizuoka Prefecture Shizuoka 1,427,107
12 Hamamatsu MA Shizuoka Prefecture Hamamatsu 1,304,548
13 Kagoshima MA Kagoshima Prefecture Kagoshima 1,132,106
14 Matsuyama MA Ehime Prefecture Matsuyama 724,048
Japan's MEAs in Taiheiyo Belt
Tokyo MEA
 Kobe MEA,  Osaka MEA,
 Kyoto MEA,  Nagoya MEA

Urban Employment Area

Urban Employment Area is another definition of metropolitan areas, defined by the Center for Spatial Information Service, the University of Tokyo.

2015

The Center for Spatial Information Service, the University of Tokyo has defined 100 metropolitan employment areas (MEAs) and 122 micropolitan employment areas (McEAs) for Japan.

Rank Metropolitan area Prefecture Central city Population
1 Tokyo MEA [Wikidata] Ibaraki, Saitama, Chiba, Tokyo, Kanagawa, Yamanashi Special wards of Tokyo, Saitama, Chiba, Tachikawa, Musashino, Yokohama, Kawasaki, Atsugi 35,303,778
2 Osaka MEA [Wikidata] Kyoto, Osaka, Hyogo, Nara, Wakayama Osaka, Sakai, Kadoma, Higashiōsaka 12,078,820
3 Nagoya MEA [Wikidata] Gifu, Aichi, Mie Nagoya, Handa, Kariya, Anjō, Komaki, Tōkai 6,871,632
4 Kyoto MEA [Wikidata] Shiga, Kyoto Kyoto, Kusatsu 2,801,044
5 Fukuoka MEA [Wikidata] Fukuoka Fukuoka 2,565,501
6 Kobe MEA [Wikidata] Hyōgo Kobe 2,419,973
7 Sapporo MEA [Wikidata] Ishikari and Shiribeshi Subprefecture in Hokkaido Sapporo, Otaru 2,362,914
8 Sendai MEA [Wikidata] Miyagi Sendai 1,612,499
9 Okayama MEA [Wikidata] Okayama Okayama 1,526,503
10 Hiroshima MEA [Wikidata] Hiroshima Hiroshima 1,431,634

2010

The Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry defined 233 areas for the UEAs of Japan.

  • MEA: Metropolitan Employment Area
  • Source: Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan, Center for Spatial Information Science, the University of Tokyo
2010 Standards
Metropolitan area Prefecture Central city Area
(km2)
GDP
(bn. JPY)
Population
2010 2005 1995 1980 1965
Tokyo MEA Ibaraki, Saitama, Chiba, Tokyo, Kanagawa, Yamanashi Special wards of Tokyo, Saitama, Chiba, Tachikawa, Musashino, Yokohama, Kawasaki, Atsugi 10,404 157,820 34,834,167 33,652,998 31,707,138 27,853,640 20,156,066
Osaka MEA Kyoto, Osaka, Hyōgo, Nara, Wakayama Osaka, Sakai, Higashiōsaka, Kadoma, Moriguchi 4,291 45,362 12,273,041 12,208,161 12,039,181 11,365,385 8,721,257
Nagoya MEA Gifu, Aichi, Mie Nagoya, Komaki 2,792 22,497 5,490,453 5,385,383 5,151,367 4,713,287 3,708,670
Kyoto MEA Shiga, Kyoto Kyoto 2,836 10,117 2,679,094 2,653,421 2,582,733 2,395,626 1,897,517
Fukuoka MEA Fukuoka Fukuoka 1,283 8,922 2,495,552 2,409,904 2,196,463 1,768,587 1,165,151
Kobe MEA Hyōgo Kobe 1,245 8,427 2,431,076 2,417,914 2,309,076 2,130,237 1,697,644
Sapporo MEA Ishikari Subprefecture, Shiribeshi Subprefecture in Hokkaido Sapporo, Otaru 3,205 7,438 2,341,599 2,325,653 2,198,255 1,798,624 1,151,946
Sendai MEA Miyagi Sendai 2,077 5,414 1,574,942 1,549,746 1,466,989 1,202,186 850,828
Okayama MEA Okayama Okayama 2,710 5,539 1,532,146 1,523,286 1,486,785 1,391,802 1,112,534
Maebashi MEA Gunma Maebashi, Takasaki, Isesaki 2,653 5,252 1,453,528 1,459,895 1,439,840 1,327,539 1,142,579
Hiroshima MEA Hiroshima Hiroshima 1,811 5,414 1,411,848 1,395,530 1,358,060 1,197,465 838,010
Kitakyushu MEA Fukuoka Kitakyushu 1,222 4,889 1,370,169 1,392,145 1,429,463 1,459,479 1,397,618
Hamamatsu MEA Shizuoka Hamamatsu 2,051 4,763 1,133,879 1,139,189 1,086,360 972,356 818,902
Utsunomiya MEA Tochigi Utsunomiya 3,851 4,454 1,120,057 1,121,696 1,093,966 973,728 817,786
Kumamoto MEA Kumamoto Kumamoto 1,604 3,490 1,102,398 1,089,366 1,053,231 924,422 795,803
Niigata MEA Niigata Niigata 2,138 3,805 1,071,152 1,082,159 1,073,394 1,002,106 875,150
Shizuoka MEA Shizuoka Shizuoka 1,677 4,024 1,001,597 1,008,368 1,016,145 966,153 808,584

See also


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