Provinces of Japan - Today

Today

To date, no official order has been issued abolishing provinces. Provinces are nonetheless today considered obsolete, although their names are still widely used in names of natural features, company names, and brands. In the early 2000s, former governor of Nagano Prefecture, Yasuo Tanaka (president of New Party Nippon), proposed the renaming of his prefecture to "Shinshū" (信州, a name derived from Shinano Province) because it is still widely used, as in Shinshū soba (信州そば), Shinshū miso (信州味噌) and Shinshu University.

These province names are considered to be mainly of historical interest. They are also used for the names of items, including family names, most of which were popularized in or after the Edo period. Examples include sanuki udon, iyokan, tosa ken, and awa odori. Japan Rail stations also use it in names to, aside from the historical background, distinguish themselves from similarly named stations in other prefectures.

Some of the province names are used to indicate distinct parts of the current prefectures along with their cultural and geographical characteristics. In many cases these names are also in use with directional characters, e.g. Hoku-Setsu (北摂?) meaning Northern (北?) Settsu (摂津?) area.

The districts are still considered prefectural subdivisions, however in case of being part of a merger or division of old provinces, they may be shared among several prefectures (such as the original Adachi District of Musashi, which is now divided between Adachi Ward of Tokyo and Kita-Adachi District in Saitama). Many of these old provincial districts have been dissolved as their chief towns have merged into larger cities or towns. See individual prefecture pages for mergers and abolitions of districts.