The Biggest Cities in Japan, With Their Names in Kanji (東京 Tokyo, 横浜 Yokohama, 大阪 Osaka)

Biggest cities in Japan: Tokyo, Yokohama, Osaka and the rest

The biggest city in Japan is Tokyo, with about 9.94 million people in its 23 special wards. After it come Yokohama (about 3.75 million), Osaka (2.81 million), Nagoya (2.35 million) and Sapporo (1.96 million). These are the final results of the 2025 census, taken on 1 October 2025 and published by the Statistics Bureau on 29 September 2026. Facts on this page last checked on 2026-10-02.

Two points trip people up. Tokyo isn't one city in law: its 23 wards are counted together, and the whole Tokyo Metropolis is far bigger still, at about 14.24 million. And "city" has a legal meaning in Japan, so a city's number is not the number for the urban area around it. Both are explained below, with every city name in kanji and its reading.

Largest cities in Japan by population, with kanji

Here are the 14 largest, in order. The last column gives the rank, the 2025 census population and the prefecture. The first row is the 23 wards of Tokyo; the other 13 are cities.

Sakai, next to Osaka, comes next, with 802,648.

Compared with the 2020 census:

• Growing: Tokyo's wards (up about 211,000), Osaka (53,000), Fukuoka (50,000), Kawasaki, Saitama, Chiba and Nagoya.
• Shrinking: Kitakyushu, Kyoto, Kobe, Hiroshima, Yokohama and Sapporo. Sendai is almost unchanged, down 558.
• The order hasn't changed since the 2020 census.

Figures like these are for 1 October 2025 and will move on at the next census.

Is Tokyo a city? The 23 wards and the Metropolis

Tokyo is not a city in the legal sense. It was a city until 1943, when the city and the prefecture were merged into a special kind of prefecture called a metropolis, written 都 (と, to, “Metropolis (of Tokyo)”). The area that used to be the city of Tokyo is now 23 特別区 (とくべつく, tokubetsuku, “special ward”), and each one has its own mayor and council.

So when someone says "Tokyo", there are three different sizes:

• The 23 wards: 9,944,109 people. This is what most "largest cities" lists mean, and it's the figure in the table above. The Japanese term for the ward area is 区部 (くぶ, kubu, “ward area (of Tokyo)”).
• The rest of the Metropolis: 4,292,518 people, in 26 cities as well as towns, villages and outlying islands.
• The whole Metropolis: 14,236,627 people.

Beyond that is Greater Tokyo, a wider urban area that includes Yokohama, Kawasaki and Saitama. Its size depends on where you draw the line, so any figure for it is for an urban area, not a city. In the legal sense, the biggest city in Japan is Yokohama.

Is Osaka bigger than Tokyo?

No. Osaka City (2,805,371) is less than a third of the size of Tokyo's 23 wards (9,944,109). Osaka Prefecture has 8,759,312 people, against 14,236,627 for Tokyo. Osaka is the third-largest city in Japan, after Tokyo's wards and Yokohama.

Yokohama, the capital of Kanagawa Prefecture, surprises many people by being second.

What 都, 道, 府, 県 and 市 mean

Japan has 47 prefectures, and the words that end their names are not all the same. The collective word is 都道府県 (とどうふけん, todōfuken, “prefectures (of Japan)”), made of the four types. Below them are the 市町村 (しちょうそん, shichōson, “cities, towns and villages”).

That makes one 都, one 道, two 府 and 43 県, which is 47. The differences are mostly historical: after the Second World War the legal differences were largely removed, and the four types work in almost the same way today. Tokyo stands out because it administers both wards and cities. So "Osaka" can mean the prefecture (大阪府) or the city (大阪市).

What makes a place a 市 (city)?

Under the Local Autonomy Law, a municipality generally needs at least 50,000 people, with most homes in a built-up central area and most households working in trade, industry or other urban jobs. A merger can lower the minimum to 30,000. So a "city" in Japan can be quite small.

What is a designated city?

The biggest cities have a special rank, 政令指定都市 (せいれいしていとし, seireishiteitoshi, “ordinance-designated city (administrative division for cities with a population of over 500,000)”). The legal minimum is 500,000 people, and in practice it's higher. There are 20, and all 13 cities in the table above are among them. The other seven are Sakai, Sagamihara, Niigata, Shizuoka, Hamamatsu, Okayama and Kumamoto.

What the kanji in the big city names mean

Knowing what the kanji mean is a quick way to remember them. Learn the characters themselves in What is Kanji?.

• 東京 (Tokyo): "eastern capital". 東 means east and 京 means capital. It replaced the old name 江戸 (えど, edo, “Edo (shogunate capital”) in 1868, and the emperor moved there soon after.
• 京都 (Kyoto): "capital city". Both 京 and 都 mean capital, so the name is close to "capital capital". The city was founded in 794 as 平安京 (へいあんきょう, heiankyō, “Heian-kyō”), the "Heian capital", and it stayed the capital until the court moved to Tokyo in the late 1860s. That's why it's called the thousand-year capital.
• 大阪 (Osaka): "large slope". 大 means big and 阪 means slope. Until 1868 the name was written 大坂 (おおさか, ōsaka, “Osaka (city, prefecture)”), with a different character for "slope". The oldest written evidence for the name dates from 1496. One explanation, from a book of 1808, is that 坂 was avoided because it can be read as "returns to the earth".
• 横浜 (Yokohama): "sideways beach". 横 means across or sideways and 浜 means beach. By the usual explanation, a sandbar stuck out sideways from the shore when seen from the sea. The port opened in 1859.
• 札幌 (Sapporo): from Ainu. The name comes from the Ainu words sat poro pet, usually translated as "dry, great river", after the Toyohira River. The kanji write that sound; they aren't a translation of it.

The origin of a place name is often debated, so treat any translation as an explanation, not a fact. For more kanji with meanings, see Japanese Last Names, the 50 most common.

How to read Japanese city names

On a sign or a form, a city's name often comes with 市 or 区. Add the suffix to the name you know: 横浜 plus 市 is 横浜市, "Yokohama City".

One name has a trap. The city of さいたま (Saitama) is written in hiragana, not kanji, while the prefecture around it is written 埼玉県.

If kanji are new to you, the 47 prefecture names are a good first goal. How to Learn Japanese shows where kanji fit in a study plan.

Questions about the biggest cities in Japan

What are the top 5 major cities of Japan?

The five biggest are Tokyo (23 wards), Yokohama, Osaka, Nagoya and Sapporo. In order, the 2025 census counts are 9,944,109, 3,750,952, 2,805,371, 2,345,186 and 1,961,996. Fukuoka is sixth, with 1,662,793.

Is Osaka bigger than Tokyo?

No, Osaka is much smaller. Osaka City has 2,805,371 people, against 9,944,109 in Tokyo's 23 wards, and Osaka Prefecture has 8,759,312, against 14,236,627 for the whole Tokyo Metropolis.

Is Tokyo or NYC bigger?

Tokyo is bigger. Its 23 wards (9,944,109) outnumber New York City, which had 8,804,190 at the 2020 census and an estimate of about 8,585,000 for 2025. The whole Tokyo Metropolis, at 14,236,627, is bigger again. As ever, the answer depends on what you count as "Tokyo".

What are the top 3 cities in Japan to visit?

There's no official ranking, and it depends on what you like. Tokyo is the biggest city, Kyoto was the capital for more than a thousand years, and Osaka is the third-largest city, so many people start with those three. Cities further down the table are worth a look too.

Which city is the prettiest in Japan?

That's a matter of taste, and no ranking settles it. Kyoto, which was the capital from 794 until the 1860s, is a common choice for people who love history. Others prefer a port city like Yokohama or a northern one like Sapporo.

What's the nicest city in Japan?

It depends on what "nice" means to you: space, food, history, climate or cost. This guide ranks cities by size only. For somewhere to live, visit before you decide, and compare rent and commuting, not only the population.

Can I live in Japan on $3,000 a month?

Whether $3,000 a month is enough depends on the city, the size of the home and whether you live alone. Costs differ a lot between a big city and a smaller one, and rent is often the biggest part. Check current rents and the exchange rate before you plan.

Is $10,000 enough for a trip to Japan?

Whether $10,000 is enough depends on how long you stay, where you go and how you travel. The exchange rate matters too. Look at a current budget for your dates before you book.

What is the #1 cause of death in Japan?

Cancer is the leading cause of death in Japan. In 2024 it accounted for 384,111 deaths, or 23.9 percent of all deaths, according to the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare statistics. Heart disease, old age and cerebrovascular disease follow.

Where do most Japanese Americans live?

Most Japanese Americans live in California and Hawaii. In 2022, according to Pew Research Center's analysis of Census Bureau data, 29 percent lived in California and 16 percent in Hawaii, out of more than 1.2 million Japanese Americans. Facts on this page last checked on 2026-10-02.

How do Japanese feel about American tourists?

There's no single answer, because Japanese people differ, as people do everywhere. Being polite and following local manners helps in any country. A few words of Japanese go a long way: see Thank You in Japanese for a start.

What do you call a half Japanese half American?

In Japanese, a person of mixed parentage is often called ハーフ (hāfu, “biracial person (esp. half-Japanese)”). Some people with mixed backgrounds don't like the word and prefer ダブル (daburu, “double”), so it's better to ask how someone describes themselves. In English, "mixed Japanese and American" is the plain description.

Sources

• Readings and meanings: JMdict (EDRDG, CC BY-SA 4.0).
• Populations of the cities (final results of the 2025 census, published 29 September 2026, with the 2020 census for comparison): Statistics Bureau of Japan, 令和7年国勢調査 結果 and 人口等基本集計 結果の概要; CityPopulation.de, Japan: cities (the 2020 figures and the full list); Osaka City, 令和7年国勢調査の結果; Sendai City, 令和7年国勢調査 確定値; Sapporo City, 国勢調査. Facts on this page last checked on 2026-10-02.
• Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Yokohama and Sapporo, names and status: Wikipedia, Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Yokohama, Sapporo.
• Cities, designated cities and prefecture types: Wikipedia, Cities of Japan, Prefectures of Japan; Japanese Wikipedia, 政令指定都市.
• New York City: Wikipedia, New York City. Japanese Americans: Pew Research Center, Japanese Americans: a survey data snapshot. The word hāfu and ダブル: Wikipedia, Hafu.
• Causes of death in 2024: Japan Institute of Life Insurance, 死因と病気のリスク, quoting the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare vital statistics.
• Reviewed independently; the points about the kanji meanings of city names, Saitama's kana spelling, the word ハーフ and the visitor questions are waiting for a native speaker's check.