Kansai
Kansai (関西地方 Kansai-chihoo), also known as Kinki (近畿地方 Kinki-chihoo), is a region of Japan located on Honshu island. It consists of seven administrative areas (prefectures), and is home to the cities of Kyoto and Osaka, among others.
The exact borders of Kansai and the difference, if any, from the term 'Kinki' is a matter of some controversy. Six prefectures are indisputably within Kansai: Hyogo, Kyoto, Nara, Osaka, Shiga and Wakayama. Mie prefecture is also generally identified as part of Kansai, as are sometimes Fukui and Tokushima.[1]
The total population of the Kansai region was 22,754,000 in 2006.[2] The area forms part of an urban corridor running north-eastwards towards Tokyo via the Chubu and Kanto regions; this makes Kansai part of one of the most densely-populated areas of the world, home to over half the country's population.[3]
Footnotes
- ↑ This article assumes that Kansai comprises seven prefectures, excluding Fukui (in the Chubu region) and Tokushima (on the island of Shikoku). Official Mie prefectural information, however, suggests that Mie is in both Kansai and Chubu. See Mie Prefecture: 'Mie's Location'.
- ↑ Japan Statistical Yearbook: 'Population by Prefecture 1920-2006'. Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. .xls document.
- ↑ Japan Times: 'Population shrinks again despite increase in births'. 3rd August 2007.