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This table contains lists of Japanese metropolitan areas (都市圏), as defined by Statistics Bureau of Japan (SBJ). The lists include the prefectures containing the region, the population of the region, and the central cities of each region. The population data is taken from the 2000 Census of Japan.^[1] The region containing most of the people in Japan, between Tokyo and Fukuoka is often called Taiheiyo Belt.

Usage note: Metropolitan area populations are often controversial and the methods used to calculate them vary from country to country and source to source, so great care should be taken when comparing the figures in this table with figures for any other country. Meaningful comparisons of metropolitan area population figures can only be made if the methods used to determine each figure are thoroughly understood.

Contents 1 Definition 1.1 Metropolitan areas in census 2005 2 Urban Employment Area 3 References 4 See also

[edit] Definition

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.

The metropolitan areas written in bold are the 7 major metropolitan areas of Japan.

• Oct. 1st, 2000
• MMA : Major Metropolitan Area
• MA : Metropolitan Area
• Sources :^[1]

Rank	Area	Prefecture	Central City	Area Population
01	Keihin'yō MMA	Tokyo, Kanagawa Prefecture, Saitama Prefecture, Chiba Prefecture, Ibaraki Prefecture	23 special wards area, Yokohama, Kawasaki, Chiba	34,493,466
02	Keihanshin MMA	Osaka Prefecture, Kyoto Prefecture, Hyōgo Prefecture, Nara Prefecture, Shiga Prefecture, Wakayama Prefecture	Osaka, Kobe, Kyoto	18,643,915
03	Chūkyō MMA	Aichi Prefecture, Gifu Prefecture, Mie Prefecture	Nagoya	8,738,842
04	Kitakyūshū-Fukuoka MMA	Fukuoka Prefecture	Fukuoka, Kitakyushu	5,418,537
05	Sapporo MMA	Ishikari Subprefecture in Hokkaidō	Sapporo	2,509,530
06	Sendai MMA	Miyagi Prefecture	Sendai	2,186,397
07	Hiroshima MMA	Hiroshima Prefecture	Hiroshima	2,043,788
08	Okayama MA	Okayama Prefecture	Okayama	1,612,756
09	Kumamoto MA	Kumamoto Prefecture	Kumamoto	1,462,478
10	Niigata MA	Niigata Prefecture	Niigata	1,349,573
11	Hamamatsu MA	Shizuoka Prefecture	Hamamatsu	1,226,890
12	Kagoshima MA	Kagoshima Prefecture	Kagoshima	1,087,447

[edit] Metropolitan areas in census 2005

The following three metropolitan areas are planned by SBJ to be included in the final census 2005 report.

• Kantō major metropolitan area
  • Saitama became a designated city on 2003-04-01. The final census 2000 report issued by SBJ in February 2003 already included referential statistics for a Kantō major metropolitan area, taking into account the anticipated promotion of Saitama. The Kantō major metropolitan area had a population of 34,607,069 and an area of 13,754 km² as a result of the retroactive calculation.
• Shizuoka major metropolitan area
  • Shizuoka, previously the central city of Shizuoka metropolitan area, was promoted to a designated city as of April 2005.
• Matsuyama metropolitan area
  • Matsuyama qualifies as a central city as of April 2005, resulting from mergers of neighboring municipalities.

[edit] Urban Employment Area

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

[edit] References

[edit] See also

• Metropolitan Area
• List of Japanese cities by population
• List of metropolitan areas by population