List of Japanese cities by population

Japan has many major cities. Many of these cities are crowded into a relatively small area of land along the Pacific coast of Honshū, between Tōkyō and Kōbe. This heavily urbanized strip is known as the Tōkaidō Megalopolis. It is named for the historic highway that connected the cities of Tōkyō and Kyōto, which has now been replaced by expressways and the high-speed Shinkansen railway.

Methods

In Japan, there are two common methods to count population. One is the nihongo|Estimated Population|推計人口 and another is the nihongo|Registered Population|登録人口.

The Estimated Population is based on the nihongo|Legal Population|法定人口, which itself is based on the national census. The Estimated Population counts births, deaths, and changes of residences each month from the Legal Population. Since the census information is collected from the actual residents, the Legal Population and the Estimated Population are relatively reliable figures.

The Registered Population is population registered on a "jūminhyō" (residential registration card) or an alien registration. As registered person may or may not reside the place, the figure does "not" show the real population. However, since municipal governments tax registered residents rather than actual residents, the figure is useful for such purposes.

List

Because of the reasons above, this list uses the Estimated Population rather than the Registered Population. Each figure is from the corresponding municipal official websites. When a municipal website does not show the Estimated Population, the figure from the corresponding prefectural official website is used instead. If neither shows the Estimated Population (which is the case of the three cities of Hokkaidō), the Registered Population without foreigners is written in blankets. For a comparison, the Registered Population of the last day of September, 2005, is written under the Legal Population.

The Estimated Population is written in red if it is smaller than the Legal Population.

The list includes the 23 special wards of Tokyo as single city. It also includes each special ward in "italics".

:Abbreviations::Est. Pop.: Estimated Population, as of May 1, 2008.:Legal Pop.: Legal Population, as of October 1, 2005.:Pref. capital: Prefectural capital

Gallery

List as of 1889

This is the list of Japanese municipalities by population, as of December 31, 1889. The list includes all the cities, as well as other municipalities with more population than Kurume, the least populous city at the time.

:Source: Japanese Wikipedia article of [http://ja.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=%E5%B8%82%E5%88%B6&oldid=16976270 市制] (City system), retrieved on July 4, 2008.

*Japanese national population is as of December 31, 1888. [http://www.stat.go.jp/data/chouki/zuhyou/02-04.xls]
*Municipal statuses, names, and populations are as of December 31, 1889.
*Prefectural capital statuses are as of 2008.
*These municipalities changed their names:
**Akamaseki, now a part of Shimonoseki.
**Ujiyamada, now a part of Ise.
**Shuri, now a part of Naha.
**Nanba, now a part of Chūō Ward, Osaka.
*Naha, Takamatsu, and Shuri were unofficial place names given to the groups of smaller towns or villages.

See also

* List of metropolitan areas in Japan by population
* Urban Employment Area
* List of cities by population
* List of metropolitan areas by population
* List of cities in Australia by population
* List of cities in the People's Republic of China by population
* List of urban areas in Malaysia by population
* List of cities and towns in Russia by population
* List of cities in South Korea by population
* List of Taiwanese counties and cities by population
* List of largest United Kingdom settlements by population
* List of conurbations in the United Kingdom
* List of United States cities by population
* Table of United States Metropolitan Statistical Areas