市区町村 - The Japanese Municipalities

We’re nearing the end of season two, and for the occasion, I wanted to go over a little geography lesson that we saw together towards the start of this season. The course in question is titled « 日本の最大の都市 - The biggest cities in Japan ». I gave you a list of city names to learn and, towards the end of the course, I briefly touched on suffixes that come after the names of cities, prefectures, departments... I gave you a quick example to get you in the bath.

And since we’ve been discussing suffixes lately, I figured we were going to end on a high note. We therefore continue our Japan’s geography study, this time looking at the four types of Japanese municipalities and much more. So, let me reassure you right away, I won’t bother you with very complicated things, I will try to keep it as simple as possible. So, you will have a lot of proper nouns to learn and there are a few that we have already seen in previous lessons.

As a reminder, we’ve already seen in the above-mentioned course, the suffix for the names of cities and the suffix for the prefectures to say, for example « The city of... », then another suffix to say « The prefecture of... / The department of... ». I give you both below :

市 . シ . The city (suffix for city names)

県 . ケン . The prefecture, the department (suffix for the names of prefectures and departments)

We also saw the suffix for island names but we’ll see that suffix in the next lesson because yes, I can tell you that already. The next lesson will cover other suffixes which are also very important. At least now you know about it.

In order to summarize the four types of municipalities in Japan, there is a small phrase that is elsewhere in the title of the course. I put it below with its Sino-Japanese pronunciation :

市区町村 . シクチョウソン

Memorizing this little expression is also a good mnemonic trick to easily remember (almost) all the suffixes that we will see in this course.

I now put below the four kanji with, for each, their purely and Sino-Japanese pronunciations :

市 . シ . The city (suffix for city names)

県 . ケン . The ward (suffix for ward names)

町 . チョウ . The city, the town (suffix for the names of cities, towns)

村 . むら . ソン. The village (suffix for village names)

Japan is divided into several regions, eight in total. Each of these regions is divided into several prefectures, sometimes called departments. These same prefectures / departments include several cities, at least one of which is the capital of the prefecture / department in question. A city is divided into ward. And these wards are each divided into districts. And these districts are each divided into towns, villages and possibly villages.

I hope I haven’t lost you too much... so we’ll resume and I’ll try to make things clearer by adding each of the kanji that we’re going to see. Let’s go !

地方 . チホウ . The region (suffix for region names)

県 . ケン . The prefecture / the department (suffix for the names of prefectures, departments)

市 . シ . The city (suffix for city names)

区 . ク . The ward (suffix for ward names)

郡 . グン . The district (suffix for district names)

町 . チョウ . The city, the town (suffix for the names of cities, towns)

村 . むら . ソン . The village (suffix for village names)

Here are the seven suffixes we’ll look at, one by one in more detail in this course.

Of course, there are many proper names that I will use as examples. Please note that I am not asking you to know the whole map of Japan. I’m just asking you to hold onto the organization of municipalities in Japan and master the use of all these suffixes. It is the most important. Whether you don’t know where exactly a particular region or town or village is, it doesn’t matter.

But hey, at least I hope you know where Tokyo is !

So, we start with the regions. There are eight regions in Japan.

That being said, I can give you as an example several names of regions with the word 地方 . チホウ as a suffix.

北海道(地方) . ホッカイドウ(チホウ) . Hokkaidō (the region of Hokkaidō)
東北(地方) . トウホク(チホウ) . Tōhoku (the region of Tōhoku)
中部(地方) . チュウブ(チホウ) . Chûbu (the region of Chûbu)
関東(地方) . カントウ(チホウ) . Kantō (the region of Kantō)
関西(地方) . カンサイ(チホウ) . Kansai (the region of Kansai)
中国(地方) . チュウゴク(チホウ) . Chūgoku (the region of Chūgoku)
四国(地方) . シコク(チホウ) . Shikoku (the region of Shikoku)
九州(地方) . キュウシュウ(チホウ) . Kyūshū (the region of Kyūshū)

Here ! I gave you the eight regions of Japan.

We continue with the forty-seven prefectures of Japan, sometimes called departments. Okay, I’m not going to give you all the prefectures / departments. I am only giving you a few. Try to memorize them and do not hesitate to look for others.

That being said, I can give you as an example several names of prefectures with the kanji 県 . ケン as a suffix.

沖縄(県) . おきなわ(ケン) . Okinawa (the prefecture of Okinawa)
千葉(県) . ちば(ケン) . Chiba (the prefecture of Chiba)
福岡(県) . フクおか(ケン) . Fukuoka (the prefecture of Fukuoka)
群馬(県) . グンま(ケン) . Gunma (the prefecture of Gunma)
香川(県) . かがわ(ケン) . Kagawa (the prefecture of Kagawa)
宮城(県) . みやぎ(ケン) . Miyagi (the prefecture of Miyagi)
埼玉(県) . さいたま(ケン) . Saitama (the prefecture of Saitama)
静岡(県) . しずおか(ケン) . Shizuoka (the prefecture of Shizuoka)
熊本(県) . くまもと(ケン) . Kumamoto (the prefecture of Kumamoto)
山形(県) . やまがた(ケン) . Yamagata (the prefecture of Yamagata)
徳島(県) . トクしま(ケン) . Tokushima (the prefecture of Tokushima)
広島(県) . ひろしま(ケン) . Hiroshima (the prefecture of Hiroshima)
福島(県) . フクしま(ケン) . Fukushima (the prefecture of Fukushima)
岡山(県) . おかやま(ケン) . Okayama (the prefecture of Okayama)
青森(県) . あおもり(ケン) . Aomori (the prefecture of Aomori)
福井(県) . フクしま(ケン) . Fukui (the prefecture of Fukui)
秋田(県) . あきた(ケン) . Akita (the prefecture of Akita)
宮崎(県) . みやざき(ケン) . Miyazaki (the prefecture de Miyazaki)
高知(県) . コウチ(ケン) . Kōchi (the prefecture of Kōchi)
山口(県) . やまぐち(ケン) . Yamaguchi (the prefecture of Yamaguchi)
愛媛(県) . えひめ(ケン) . Ehime (the prefecture of Ehime)
長野(県) . ながの(ケン) . Nagano (the prefecture of Nagano)
長崎(県) . ながさき(ケン) . Nagasaki (the prefecture of Nagasaki)
奈良(県) . なら(ケン) . Nara (the prefecture of Nara)
新潟(県) . にいがた(ケン) . Niigata (the prefecture of Niigata)
大分(県) . おおいた(ケン) . Ōita (the prefecture of Ōita)
佐賀(県) . サガ(ケン) . Saga (the prefecture of Saga)
滋賀(県) . ジガ(ケン) . Shiga (the prefecture of Shiga)
岐阜(県) . ギフ(ケン) . Gifu (the prefecture of Gifu)
兵庫(県) . ヒョウゴ(ケン) . Hyōgo (the prefecture of Hyōgo)
茨城(県) . いばらき(ケン) . Ibaraki (the prefecture of Ibaraki)
石川(県) . いしかわ(ケン) . Ishikawa (the prefecture of Ishikawa)
岩手(県) . いわて(ケン) . Iwate (the prefecture of Iwate)
神奈川(県) . かながわ(ケン) . Kanagawa (the prefecture of Kanagawa)

Note : in the name 愛媛 . えひめ, the kanji 媛 is actually the old version of the kanji 姫 well known today. The kanji 媛 has become obsolete and you will not find it in any Japanese word except in the name of the prefecture quoted above.

We come back now to the names of cities.

To refresh your memory, I give you below the example I gave you at the time, a city name and append the suffix 市 . シ to it.

川崎 + 市 = 川崎市 . かわさきシ . Kawazaki-shi.

Literally this translates to : the city of Kawazaki

In fact, in rômaji, for example, we’ll write Kawasaki-shi with the suffix « shi » separated by a hyphen.

I now give you the list of the twenty largest cities in Japan that you already know in addition to a few others.

東京(市) . トウキョウ(シ) . Tōkyō (the city of Tōkyō)
川崎(市) . かわさき(シ) . Kawasaki (the city of Kawasaki)
横浜(市) . よこはま(シ) . Yokohama (the city of Yokohama)
大阪(市) . オウサカ(シ) . Ōsaka (the city of Ōsaka)
京都(市) . キョウト(シ) . Kyōto (the city of Kyōto)
神戸(市) . コウベ(シ) . Kōbe (the city of Kōbe)
名古屋(市) . なごや(シ) . Nagoya (the city of Nagoya)
福岡(市) . ふくおか(シ) . Fukuoka (the city of Fukuoka)
北九州(市) . キタキュウシュウ(シ) . Kitakyūshū (the city of Kitakyūshū)
札幌(市) . サッポロ(シ) . Sapporo (the city of Sapporo)
広島(市) . ひろしま(シ) . Hiroshima (the city of Hiroshima)
仙台(市) . センダイ(シ) . Sendai (the city of Sendai)
静岡(市) . しずおか(シ) . Shizuoka (the city of Shizuoka)
埼玉(市) . さいたま(シ) . Saitama (the city of Saitama)
新潟(市) . にいがた(シ) . Niigata (the city of Niigata)
那覇(市) . なは(シ) . Naha (the city of Naha)
奈良(市) . なら(シ) . Nara (the city of Nara)
金沢(市) . かなざわ(シ) . Kanazawa (the city of Kanazawa)
石川(市) . いしかわ(シ) . Ishikawa (the city of Ishikawa)
千葉(市) . ちば(シ) . Chiba (the city of Chiba)
安城(市) . アンジョウ(シ) . Anjō (the city of Anjō)
江南(市) . コウナン(シ) . Kōnan (the city of Kōnan)
高浜(市) . たかはま(シ) . Takahama (the city of Takahama)
半田(市) . ハンだ(シ) . Handa (the city of Handa)
真庭(市) . まにわ(シ) . Maniwa (the city of Maniwa)
玉野(市) . たまの(シ) . Tamano (the city of Tamano)
津山(市) . つやま(シ) . Tsuyama (the city of Tsuyama)
山形(市) . やまがた(シ) . Yamagata (the city of Yamagata)
赤磐(市) . あかいわ(シ) . Akaiwa (the city of Akaiwa)
新庄(市) . シンジョウ(シ) . Shinjō (the city of Shinjō)
岡崎(市) . おかざき(シ) . Okazaki (the city of Okazaki)
青森(市) . あおもり(シ) . Aomori (the city of Aomori)
浜松(市) . はままつ(シ) . Hamamatsu (the city of Hamamatsu)
酒田(市) . さかた(シ) . Sakata (the city of Sakata)
新城(市) . シンしろ(シ) . Shinshiro (the city of Shinshiro)
北名古屋(市) . きたなごや(シ) . Kitanagoya (the city of Kitanagoya)
熊本(市) . くまもと(シ) . Kumamoto (the city of Kumamoto)
荒尾(市) . あらお(シ) . Arao (the city of Arao)
松戸(市) . まつど(シ) . Matsudo (the city of Matsudo)
鶴岡(市) . つるおか(シ) . Tsuruoka (the city of Tsuruoka)
南陽(市) . ナンヨウ(シ) . Nan’yō (the city of Nan’yō)
根室(市) . ねむろ(シ) . Nemuro (the city of Nemuro)
北斗(市) . ホクト(シ) . Hokuto (the city of Hokuto)
鳥取(市) . とっとり(シ) . Tottori (the city of Tottori)
白山(市) . ハクサン(シ) . Hakusan (the city of Hakusan)
七尾(市) . ななお(シ) . Nanao (the city of Nanao)
輪島(市) . わじま(シ) . Wajima (the city of Wajima)
日南(市) . ニチナン(シ) . Nichinan (the city of Nichinan)
宮崎(市) . みやざき(シ) . Miyazaki (the city of Miyazaki)
日向(市) . ひゅうが(シ) . Hyūga (the city of Hyūga)
小林(市) . こばやし(シ) . Kobayashi (the city of Kobayashi)
旭川(市) . あさひかわ(シ) . Asahikawa (the city of Asahikawa)
下関(市) . しものせき(シ) . Shimonoseki (the city of Shimonoseki)
宇部(市) . うべ(シ) . Ube (the city of Ube)
萩(市) . はぎ(シ) . Hagi (the city of Hagi)
光(市) . ひかり(シ) . Hikari (the city of Hikari)
周南(市) . シュウナン(シ) . Shūnan (the city of Shūnan)
長門(市) . ながと(シ) . Nagato (the city of Nagato)
柳井(市) . やない(シ) . Yanai (the city of Yanai)
津島(市) . つしま(シ) . Tsushima (the city of Tsushima)
稲沢(市) . いなざわ(シ) . Inazawa (the city of Inazawa)
清須(市) . きよス(シ) . Kiyosu (the city of Kiyosu)
愛西(市) . あいさい(シ) . Aisai (the city of Aisai)
田原(市) . たはら(シ) . Tahara (the city of Tahara)
豊明(市) . とよあけ(シ) . Toyoake (the city of Toyoake)
豊田(市) . とよた(シ) . Toyota (the city of Toyota)
岩倉(市) . いわくら(シ) . Iwakura (the city of Iwakura)
豊岡(市) . とよおか(シ) . Toyooka (the city of Toyooka)
黒石(市) . くろいし(シ) . Kuroishi (the city of Kuroishi)
高崎(市) . たかさき(シ) . Takasaki (the city of Takasaki)
柳川(市) . やながわ(シ) . Yanagawa (the city of Yanagawa)
豊前(市) . ブゼン(シ) . Buzen (the city of Buzen)
恵庭(市) . エにわ(シ) . Eniwa (the city of Eniwa)
三田(市) . サンだ(シ) . Sanda (the city of Sanda)
行橋(市) . ゆくはし(シ) . Yukuhashi (the city of Yukuhashi)
前橋(市) . まえばし(シ) . Maebashi (the city of Maebashi)
平川(市) . ひらかわ(シ) . Hirakawa (the city of Hirakawa)
秋田(市) . あきた(シ) . Akita (the city of Akita)
北秋田(市) . きたあきた(シ) . Kitaakita (the city of Kitaakita)
守山(市) . もりやま(シ) . Moriyama (the city of Moriyama)
彦根(市) . ひこね(シ) . Hikone (the city of Hikone)
長浜(市) . ながはま(シ) . Nagahama (the city of Nagahama)
米原(市) . マイばら(シ) . Maibara (the city of Maibara)
湖南(市) . コナン(シ) . Konan (the city of Konan)
知立(市) . チリュウ(シ) . Chiryū (the city of Chiryū)
西尾(市) . にしお(シ) . Nishio (the city of Nishio)
碧南(市) . ヘキナン(シ) . Hekinan (the city of Hekinan)
鉾田(市) . ほこた(シ) . Hokota (the city of Hokota)
稲敷(市) . いなしき(シ) . Inashiki (the city of Inashiki)
石岡(市) . いしおか(シ) . Ishioka (the city of Ishioka)
下妻(市) . しもつま(シ) . Shimotsuma (the city of Shimotsuma)
桜川(市) . さくらがわ(シ) . Sakuragawa (the city of Sakuragawa)
宮津(市) . みやず(シ) . Miyazu (the city of Miyazu)
南丹(市) . ナンタン(シ) . Nantan (the city of Nantan)
亀岡(市) . かめおか(シ) . Kameoka (the city of Kameoka)
八千代(市) . やちよ(シ) . Yachiyo (the city of Yachiyo)
君津(市) . きみつ(シ) . Kimitsu (the city of Kimitsu)
浦安(市) . うらやす(シ) . Urayasu (the city of Urayasu)
流山(市) . ながれやま(シ) . Nagareyama (the city of Nagareyama)
野田(市) . のだ(シ) . Noda (the city of Noda)
天草(市) . あまくさ(シ) . Amakusa (the city of Amakusa)
舞鶴(市) . まいずる(シ) . Maizuru (the city of Maizuru)
木津川(市) . きずがわ(シ) . Kizugawa (the city of Kizugawa)
宝塚(市) . たからずか(シ) . Takarazuka (the city of Takarazuka)
三木(市) . みき(シ) . Miki (the city of Miki)
加賀(市) . カガ(シ) . Kaga (the city of Kaga)
小松(市) . こまつ(シ) . Komatsu (the city of Komatsu)
花巻(市) . はなまき(シ) . Hanamaki (the city of Hanamaki)

Note : you will have noticed that some towns have the same name as the prefecture where they are located. This is quite common in Japan and when it does, the city in question is often the capital of the prefecture of the same name.

Note: if you observe the name of the city of 下関市 . しものせきシ, you will notice the presence of the particle の. Be aware that very rare proper nouns contain the particle の without this particle being written. So, you have to learn these proper nouns by heart.

Did you know? The city of 豊田市 . とよたシ is also the city where the car manufacturing company of the same name was founded.

There are 171 wards in Japan, divided within all cities in Japan. For the names of the wards, I will give you as an example the seven wards of the city of Hamamatsu. Their names are all made up of kanji that you already know. But of course, don’t hesitate to take an interest in others.

That being said, I can give you as an example several wards names with the kanji 区 . ク as a suffix.

浜北(区) . ひまきた(ク) . Himakita (the ward of Himakita)
東(区) . ひがし(ク) . Higashi (the ward of Higashi)
北(区) . きた(ク) . Kita (the ward of Kita)
南(区) . みなみ(ク) . Minami (the ward of Minami)
中(区) . なか(ク) . Naka (the ward of Naka)
西(区) . にし(ク) . Nishi (the ward of Nishi)
天竜(区) . テンリュウ(ク) . Tenryuu (the ward of Tenryuu)

For information, 天竜 . テンリュウ means « the heavenly dragon ». We have the kanji of « heavenly » (天) and the kanji of « dragon » (竜). I give you for each of these two kanji the purely and Sino-Japanese pronunciations :

天 . あま. テン . heaven, heavens, heavenly

竜 . たつ. リュウ . the dragon

Okay, now you know how it works.

I will immediately give you as an example several district names with the kanji 郡 . グン as a suffix.

日野(郡) . ひの(グン) . Hino (the district of Hino)
岩美(郡) . いわみ(グン) . Iwami (the district of Iwami)
西伯(郡) . サイハク(グン) . Saihaku (the district of Saihaku)
東伯(郡) . トウハク(グン) . Touhaku (the district of Touhaku)
上川(郡) . かみかわ(グン) . Kamikawa (the district of Kamikawa)
香取(郡) . かとり(グン) . Katori (the district of Katori)
久米(郡) . くめ(グン) . Kume (the district of Kume)
空知(郡) . そらち(グン) . Sorachi (the district of Sorachi)
神崎(郡) . カンザキ(グン) . Kanzaki (the district of Kanzaki)
真庭(郡) . まにわ(グン) . Maniwa (the district of Maniwa)
雨竜(郡) . ウリュウ(グン) . Uryuu (the district of Uryuu)

Above, 雨竜 . ウリュウ means « the rain dragon ». We have the rain kanji you know well (雨) and the kanji of « dragon » (竜). I give you for each of these two kanji the purely and Sino-Japanese pronunciations :

雨 . あめ, あま- . ウ . the rain

竜 . たつ. リュウ . the dragon

It sometimes happens to find districts depending on different prefectures but with a similar name. This is the case for the districts of Kamikawa. And I mean districts in the plural ! There is a Kamikawa district under the Tokachi sub-prefecture, on the island of Hokkaido; and two others belonging to the sub-prefecture of the same name (Kamikawa) also on the island of Hokkaido.

There is something to feel a little confused but these cases are fortunately extremely rare. Do not hesitate to search for more if that interests you.

Note : on February 1, 2015, concerning the district of Maniwa, its population was 874 inhabitants for an area of 67.11 km² and a population density of 13 inhabitants per km² !

Below, I give you as an example many townships in Tottori Prefecture, one township in Hokkaido Prefecture, seven townships in Miyazaki Prefecture and two others in Okayama Prefecture at the very end.

I will give you immediately as an example several names of towns with the kanji 町 . チョウ as a suffix.

日南(町) . ニチナン(チョウ) . Nichinan (the town of Nichinan)
日野(町) . ひの(チョウ) . Hino (the town of Hino)
北栄(町) . ホクエイ(チョウ) . Hokuei (the town of Hokuei)
琴浦(町) . ことうら(チョウ) . Kotoura (the town of Kotoura)
三朝(町) . みささ(チョウ) . Misasa (the town of Misasa)
湯梨浜(町) . ゆりはま(チョウ) . Yurihama (the town of Yurihama)
南部(町) . ナンブ(チョウ) . Nanbu (the town of Nanbu)
大山(町) . ダンセン(チョウ) . Dansen (the town of Dansen)
美瑛(町) . ビエイ(チョウ) . Biei (the town of Biei)
綾(町) . あや(チョウ) . Aya (the town of Aya)
日之影(町) . ひのかげ(チョウ) . Hinokage (the town of Hinokage)
高千穂(町) . たかちほ(チョウ) . Takachiho (the town of Takachiho)
門川(町) . かどかわ(チョウ) . Kadokawa (the town of Kadokawa)
新富(町) . シンとみ (チョウ) . Shintomi (the town of Shintomi)
高鍋(町) . たかなべ(チョウ) . Takanabe (the town of Takanabe)
木城(町) . きジョウ (チョウ) . Kijō (the town of Kijō)
美咲(町) . みさき(チョウ) . Misaki (the town of Misaki)
久米南(町) . くめナン(チョウ) . Kumenan (the town of Kumenan)

Note : Misaki and Kumenan are two towns in Kume District of Okayama Prefecture.

Note : there are three Japanese cities named Nanbu, one in Yamanashi Prefecture, another in Tottori Prefecture and one in Aomori Prefecture.

We come to the end with the names of the villages. And arrived here, I must mention a little something quite special. It should be noted that in Japan the definition of « village », as a municipality, is above all demographic and depends mainly on the prefectures.

This means that it is the prefecture that itself defines how many inhabitants a municipality can be qualified as a village.

For example, in Toyama, Okayama and Hyōgo prefectures, municipalities with less than 3,000 inhabitants are referred to as villages. Beyond that, these municipalities will then be considered as towns. In the Tottori Prefecture, a municipality of less than 4000 inhabitants can be considered a village. And in other prefectures, it’s still different.

This sometimes leads to some confusion, especially when it comes to translating whether a particular municipality is a village or a town. Sometimes, if you search Wikipedia for villages or towns in Japan, it will give you the name of the place with the corresponding suffix. Sometimes this suffix is the one for the town and yet on the page you are told it is a village. There is cause for confusion.

For the record, villages are the least common type of municipality in Japan. Their number has fallen sharply since the 2004 law on the merger of municipalities, which set the goal of ultimately reducing the number of municipalities to 1,000, by promoting the formation of towns by the absorption of littler towns and villages by those already existing or else by merging towns and villages together to form new towns. I don’t go into the details of the why and how. Do some research if you want to know more. Just remember that villages are disappearing in Japan despite the will of some personalities who want to preserve Japanese heritage.

Also be aware that, with the ever-changing situation, what used to be villages and which I indicate below as such may very well be little towns or cities today.

I will give you immediately as an example several names of villages with the kanji 村 . むら . ソン as a suffix.

白川(村) . しらかわ(むら) . Shirakawa (the village of Shirakawa)
木祖(村) . きそ(むら) . Kiso (the village of Kiso)
鶴居(村) . つるい(むら) . Tsurui (the village of Tsurui)
伊根(村) . いね(むら) . Ine (the village of Ine)
上島(村) . かみじま(むら) . Kamijima (the village of Kamijima)
馬路(村) . うまじ(むら) . Umaji (the village of Umaji)
赤井川(村) . あかいがわ(むら) . Akaigawa (the village of Akaigawa)
新庄(村) . シンジョウ(むら) . Shinjō (the village of Shinjō)

Note : in 2015, the village of Shinjō, located in the Maniwa district of Okayama prefecture, had a population of less than 1,000 !

Not to be confused with the city of the same name, written with the same kanji, from Yamagata Prefecture to the north of Honshu Island.

It is high time to recap everything we have just seen in this course. I put below the pattern to follow depending on whether you want to name a region, a city, a prefecture, a department…

[Region name] + 地方 . チホウ . (Suffix for region names)

[Prefecture / department name] + 県 . ケン . (Suffix for the names of prefectures and departments)

[City name] + 市 . し . (Suffix for city names)

[Ward name] + 区 . ク . (Suffix for ward names)

[District name] + 郡 . グン . (Suffix for district names)

[Town name] + 町 . チョウ . (Suffix for the names of towns and villages)

[Village name] + 村 . むら . ソン. (Suffix for village names)

Before I come to the conclusion, I would like to make sure I clear something up with you as I know this is often confusing for a lot of people.

In Japan, you have a region and a prefecture that have the exact same name. This is Hokkaido. So, as an example, 北海道 . ホッカイド may very well be :

• The region, in this case we’ll say 北海道地方 . ホッカイドチホウ.
• The prefecture, in this case we’ll say 北海道県 . ホッカイドケン.
• And 北海道 . ホッカイド is also an island. Yet in this specific case we simply say 北海道 . ホッカイド !

As said in the introduction, we will see the suffix for island names in the next course, this is a rather special case.

Now that we have seen all of these suffixes inside and out, I can take this opportunity to present three new non-honorary titles. You already know what a non-honorary title is, we’ve seen a lot of it in a previous course so three more can only do you good.

You already know that in all the languages of the world there is a word for « mayor » whether it is to refer to the mayor of a city, town or village. In Japanese, there are three different non-honorary titles depending on the case.

As with the four types of municipalities in Japan, there is a small mnemonic phrase that sums up the three categories of mayors in Japan. I put it below with its Sino-Japanese pronunciation :

市町村長 . シチョウソンチョウ

I now put below the four kanji with, for each, their Sino-Japanese pronunciations :

市 . シ . The city (prefix for city mayors)

町 . チョウ . The city, the town (prefix for the mayors of cities and towns)

村 . ソン . The village (prefix for mayors / chiefs of villages)

長 . チョウ . The chef (suffix appended to one of the three previous kanji depending on the category)

You read correctly ! This time, the kanji 市, 町 and 村 will be used as a prefix of the kanji 長. Thus, if we mean « the mayor of the city » or « the mayor of the town / municipality » or even « the mayor of the village », we will say :

市長 . シチョウ . The mayor of the city

町長 . チョウチョウ . The mayor of the city, the mayor of the town

村長 . ソンチョウ . The mayor of the village, the village chief

Remember that the non-honorary title can be used after a name and also alone but when it is alone it itself needs an honorary suffix or an honorary title.

One more course that is coming to an end, more suffixes to learn and lots of new kanji. Now, there is nothing particularly complicated to figure out, all you must do is memorize all these new suffixes and proper nouns. This is a course that I advise you to come back to regularly. I will of course be using much of this vocabulary from now on in the example sentences and exercises. But hey, you probably already guessed!

There are a few other suffixes that we have not seen in this course because I wanted to stick to the basics. For example, we have not seen how the word « sub-prefecture » is said because it is a rather complicated term. But if you are interested, I invite you to look for it in the dictionary or on Wikipedia.

There are no exercises for this course, so practice writing all these proper nouns. That is all you must do.

This course is now over, thank you for reading it. Keep learning diligently, work well, train as often as needed and you will succeed!

Have a good day everyone and do your homework properly.

Before leaving, I would like to mention two or three things about other countries. Every country has its own municipal organization. For example, the United States, Mexico, and Brazil are divided into several States. Each of these same States has several cities, at least one of which is the capital of the said State, not to be confused with the capital of the country. Others like Canada and Cuba are divided into provinces, and finally others like France are divided into departments.

My explanations here will be very brief because it is impossible for me to explain in detail all the municipal, provincial, departmental divisions... for each country. Not to mention that at the heart of some of them, there are sometimes special municipalities, autonomous communities, overseas departments, and territories, etc.

My goal is simply to quickly teach you that the Japanese have a kanji used as a suffix to say « The State of… », « the province of… », etc.

All you will learn will be the three kanji below:

州 . シュウ . The State, the province, the county (suffix for State, province, county names)

州都 . シュウト . The State capital (this is not a suffix, a State capital remains a city)

首都 . シュト . The capital (this is not a suffix, a capital remains a city, we will therefore use the kanji 市.)

So, if we want to say The State of Alabama, we will say アラバマ州. If we mean The province of Alberta and The province of Quebec, we will say アルバータ州 and ケベック州. There are ten Canadian provinces whose names come from English, French and even Latin. Thus, the name of The province of Nova Scotia is written and pronounced in Japanese ノバスコシア州, from the Latin Nova Scotia.

France, for its part, is divided into departments. Given the vowel richness of the French language, certain sounds can be quite tricky to transcribe into katakana. However, at this point, I think you have had plenty of time to practice. Finally, the presence of the hyphen is quite common in French proper nouns. This is transcribed by the sign ＝. Now here are some examples. To find out the spelling and pronunciation of these proper nouns, do not hesitate to search on the Internet:

ジロンド県 . ジロンドケン . The department of Gironde
ガール県 . ガールケン . The department of Gard
アルデシュ県 . アルデシュケン . The department of Ardèche
アン県 . アンケン . The department of Ain
エーヌ県 . エーヌケン . The department of Aisne
アリエ県 . アリエケン . The department of Allier
ジュラ県 . ジュラケン . The department of Jura
カンタル県 . カンタルケン . The department of Cantal
ヴォクリューズ県 . ヴォクリューズケン . The department of Vaucluse
マンシュ県 . マンシュケン . The department of Manche
モルビアン県 . モルビアンケン . The department of Morbihan
イヴリーヌ県 . イヴリーヌケン . The department of Yvelines
サヴォワ県 . サヴォワケン . The department of Savoie
オート＝サヴォワ県 . オート＝サヴォワケン . The department of Haute-Savoie
セーヌ＝エ＝マルヌ県 . セーヌ＝エ＝マルヌケン . The department of Seine-et-Marne
セーヌ＝サン＝ドニヌ県 . セーヌ＝サン＝ドニケン . The department of Seine-Saint-Denis

In the exercises to come, particularly at the end of this season you will have to translate the names of American States, Canadian provinces, French departments and even towns and villages... So, you must now take the initiative to know how to write for yourself the names of foreign states, provinces, and departments. I will not give you these proper nouns in the vocabulary that you usually find at the end of the exercises!