Explore Japan by Prefecture

Japan is divided into 47 prefectures, grouped here into nine traditional regions running from Hokkaido in the north to Okinawa in the south. A prefecture is roughly analogous to a US state or a UK county — it has its own governor, its own capital, and often a distinct cuisine, dialect and climate that a national-level guide tends to flatten out. That regional distinctness is the reason this site organizes spots by prefecture in the first place: a hidden gem in mountainous, snowbound Akita has almost nothing in common with one on a subtropical Okinawan reef beyond both being technically in Japan.

The interactive map below colors every prefecture with at least one published spot; clicking through takes you to that prefecture's own page with local access tips, seasonal notes and — where written — a short profile of the region's climate and food before the spot listing itself. If you already know where you're headed, jump straight to a prefecture from the regional lists further down the page; if you're still deciding, the map is the faster way to see which parts of the country currently have coverage and which are still filling in. Regions with a colored dot on the map are the ones actively worth exploring today.