What is a Preficture?

[Dylonius Funk]

I've seen this termed used in anime when chaacrters say where they live. I assumed it would be the same as a county in the US. As an example,in Excel Saga, Excel says she lives in the city of F ,in the preficture of F. So would that be the same as me saying that I live in the town of Kennebunk, in the County of York? Or is a preficture closer to a state if we were to make comparision? To use the same example, I would then say I live in the town of Kennebunk, in the State of Maine.

[quenelf]

'Prefecture' (with an e) is the English word.

In Japanese it's usually said as an ending on the name, -ken. (e.g. Hyogo-ken).

I have no idea how it would compare to US states (which vary hugely in size anyhow, don't they?) or counties, though.

--quen

[DrMM]

Eh, it's probably more like a state than a county. There's nothing larger than a prefecture but there is something larger than a county. I don't think there's anything comparable to a county. Sure, they divide cities up into wards (-ku designation) but that's in a larger city.

Of course, Osaka and Tokyo are both so large, they're not given a prefecture designation (ken) when you write a letter. They each have a special character, but for the life of me, I can't remember what it is.

[jmarken]

Prefectures are equivalent to States in the US. Counties would be gun (郡).

[jmarken]

[ QUOTE ]
DrMM said:
Of course, Osaka and Tokyo are both so large, they're not given a prefecture designation (ken) when you write a letter. They each have a special character, but for the life of me, I can't remember what it is.

[/ QUOTE ]

Osaka and Kyoto are both Fu (府), Tokyo is a To (都). And Hokkaidou is a Dou (�). Everything else is a Ken (県), ie, a prefecture. Hence the little jingle: 1都1�2府47県, or One To, One Dou, Two Fu, 47 Ken.

[Dylonius Funk]

[ QUOTE ]
jmarken said:
Prefectures are equivalent to States in the US. Counties would be gun (郡).

[/ QUOTE ]
So the hierarchy of goverment would fall something like this:City-Prefecture-Federal. Or is there something inbetween City-Prefecture or Prefecture-Federal? And is Federal even the righ term? I know that Japan has a parlimentary democracy, where parliment appointes a prime minister, but being an American i've become used to useing the term Federal as a general term used to describe a country wide goverment system. What term would a person in Japan use?

[hideyuki]

City-Prefecture-Nation.

`Gun' (county) is still used in addresses, but currently it's
not a unit of administration. A local government under a
prefecture is either 'Shi' (city), 'Machi/Cho' (town) or
'Mura' (village).

Japan as a whole is referred to as 'Kuni' (country or
nation). Prefectures are not as autonomous as U.S. states.

[quenelf]

'1都1�2府47県'

It's not much of a jingle, is it? I mean apart from the first little bit it doesn't even rhyme. /images/graemlins/happy.gif

Seriously, though, thanks, I might try to remember that... I kind of vaguely knew about the special cases but knowing them less vaguely would probably help. Although, so might memorisingly the names/locations of all those 47 ken, but I think I'll pass on that somehow. /images/graemlins/happy.gif

--quen

[JeffDM]

I guess I was confusing it with precinct, which in my area, divides a town, city or county into police, fire and voting jurisdictions.

[Vertical_Ed]

[ QUOTE ]
jmarken said:
[ QUOTE ]
DrMM said:
Of course, Osaka and Tokyo are both so large, they're not given a prefecture designation (ken) when you write a letter. They each have a special character, but for the life of me, I can't remember what it is.

[/ QUOTE ]

Osaka and Kyoto are both Fu (府), Tokyo is a To (都). And Hokkaidou is a Dou (�). Everything else is a Ken (県), ie, a prefecture. Hence the little jingle: 1都1�2府47県, or One To, One Dou, Two Fu, 47 Ken.

[/ QUOTE ]

��マーケン�
誰�も群-馬県�??!

ARRRGH! (head exploded)

[Vertical_Ed]

1都1�2府47クエン??!!

[Kiggy]

I've always thought of Japanese Prefectures as somewhat equivalent to French Departments, or Canadian Provinces...

[quenelf]

[ QUOTE ]
osaka said:
1都1�2府47クエン??!!

[/ QUOTE ]

怖�! :>

--quen

[GetBackersFreak]

I'm doing a report on Japan (Big surprise there) and I'm trying to pinpoint any changes in functions and structures of states (And attitudes toward states) in the Post-WWII era to the present.

Any idea when the Prefecture system was adopted, and for you scholars out there, what changes have been made to it in the post-WWII/modern era? ^_^' Thanks.


EDIT: Thank goodness for the Wiki. It told me everything I needed to know pretty much.

Except, did Prime Minister Koizumi's suggestion pass, or not? o_o I dont think it did because it doesnt mention it further...

[tomo]

[ QUOTE ]
GBF said:
I'm doing a report on Japan (Big surprise there) and I'm trying to pinpoint any changes in functions and structures of states (And attitudes toward states) in the Post-WWII era to the present.

Any idea when the Prefecture system was adopted, and for you scholars out there, what changes have been made to it in the post-WWII/modern era? ^_^' Thanks.

[/ QUOTE ]

The "haihan chiken" was done in 1871, after the Meiji Restoration. The former "hans" became fu and prefectures. Over the years, the fu/prefectured were merged into the system it is now.

[pythos]

Yes, prefectures are like U.S. states.

There are several Japanese prefectures that have "sister states" (similar to sister cities) in the U.S. Colorado & Yamagata-ken is one example.