Okinawa沖縄県
Okinawa-ken, おきなわけん. The name ends in 県 (ken), prefecture.
Okinawa is a subtropical island chain 600 km south-west of Kyūshū. It was the Ryūkyū Kingdom until 1879 and under US administration until 1972.
Facts
- Japanese name
- 沖縄県
- Reading
- Okinawa-ken / おきなわけん
- Region
- Kyūshū-Okinawa 九州・沖縄
- Capital
- Naha 那覇市
- Population
- 1,467,480 (2020 census)
- Area
- 2,283 km²
- Density
- 643 people per km²
- Municipalities
- 41: 11 cities, 11 towns, and 19 villages
- Designated cities
- None
- Districts (郡)
- 5
- Codes
- JIS 47, ISO 3166-2 JP-47
- Website
- www.pref.okinawa.lg.jp
- Tree
- Ryukyu pine リュウキュウマツ
- Flower
- deigo デイゴ
- Bird
- Okinawa woodpecker ノグチゲラ
The tree, flower, and bird are the prefectural symbols, chosen by ordinance. Every prefecture has all three.
The most populous municipalities
| Municipality | Population | km² | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Naha City那覇市 | 317,625 | 41.42 | 21.6% |
| Okinawa City沖縄市 | 142,752 | 49.72 | 9.7% |
| Uruma Cityうるま市 | 125,303 | 87.02 | 8.5% |
| Urasoe City浦添市 | 115,690 | 19.5 | 7.9% |
| Ginowan City宜野湾市 | 100,125 | 19.8 | 6.8% |
| Tomigusuku City豊見城市 | 64,612 | 19.31 | 4.4% |
| Nago City名護市 | 63,554 | 210.94 | 4.3% |
| Itoman City糸満市 | 61,007 | 46.63 | 4.2% |
| Miyakojima City宮古島市 | 52,931 | 204.27 | 3.6% |
| Ishigaki City石垣市 | 47,637 | 229.15 | 3.2% |
2020 census. Share is the municipality's part of the prefecture's population. The other 31 are listed below.
How an address here begins
沖縄県那覇市…
Okinawa-ken, Naha-shi, …
The prefecture name is written first, then the municipality name. The guide explains the rest of the address, and the map finds any address you paste into it.
Neighbouring prefectures
Okinawa shares no land border with another prefecture.
Every municipality in Okinawa市区町村
41 local governments, each with its own mayor and assembly. Each has a page with its population, area, neighbours, and boundary on the map.
Cities市
Districts, with their towns and villages郡 町 村
A district is a name that groups towns and villages in an address. It has no office and no election. Each town and village in it is a government.
Questions about Okinawa
- What is the capital of Okinawa?
- Naha (那覇市). The prefectural office is there. It is also the largest municipality in the prefecture.
- What does 県 mean in 沖縄県?
- 県 (ken) means prefecture. It is the ordinary word for prefecture, used by 43 of the 47. The other four are Tokyo (都), Hokkaidō (道), Osaka, and Kyoto (府), which are the same kind of government with a different word at the end of the name.
- How many municipalities are in Okinawa?
- 41: 11 cities, 11 towns, and 19 villages. Each is a local government with its own mayor and assembly. The towns and villages are grouped into five districts (郡), names used in addresses, not governments.
- What is the population of Okinawa?
- 1,467,480 at the 2020 census, on 2,283 km², which is 643 people per km². Okinawa is the 25th most populous of the 47 prefectures and the 44th largest by area.
- Which prefectures border Okinawa?
- None. Okinawa is a chain of islands and shares no land border with another prefecture. Kagoshima is the nearest, to the north-east across the sea.
- What region is Okinawa in?
- Kyūshū-Okinawa (九州・沖縄). A region is a customary grouping of prefectures, not a government, so Okinawa elects a governor and an assembly but the region elects nothing.
- How is Okinawa written in Japanese?
- 沖縄県, read Okinawa-ken and written おきなわけん in hiragana. The last character, 県, is the word for prefecture, and the name is often used without it in English.
- How does an address in Okinawa begin?
- With the prefecture name, then the municipality name: 沖縄県那覇市… (Okinawa-ken, Naha-shi, …). After that are written the named area, the chōme, the block, and the building number.
- What is the largest city in Okinawa?
- Naha City (那覇市), with 317,625 people at the 2020 census. It is also the capital. The three most populous municipalities are Naha City (那覇市, 317,625), Okinawa City (沖縄市, 142,752), and Uruma City (うるま市, 125,303).
- What are the symbols of Okinawa?
- The prefectural tree is the Ryukyu pine (リュウキュウマツ), the flower the deigo (デイゴ), and the bird the Okinawa woodpecker (ノグチゲラ). Okinawa chose them by ordinance, as every prefecture has.
Boundaries: MLIT 国土数値情報. Population: 2020 Population Census (令和2年国勢調査). Area: Geospatial Information Authority of Japan (全国都道府県市区町村別面積調, 2020). Municipality counts are from the boundary data on the map. Website and symbols: the prefecture's Japanese Wikipedia article, read in September 2026.