The Weather Cities of Japan

The essayist Charles Dudley Warner famously quipped, “Everybody complains about the weather, but nobody does anything about it.” That changes today. While I can’t fix your crazy weather, I can at least help you identify where weather is happening within Japan, thanks to this post’s handy dandy list of “weather cities.”

Growing up in America, I never thought twice about where Albuquerque was when the weatherman said that today’s high there would be 85°F. I new automatically that it was in New Mexico. Not that it mattered much to me, since I was nowhere near that southwest state. But if I had to fly there tomorrow for some Albuquerque-style emergency, at least I would know what kind of clothes to pack.

Now that I am in Japan, it is a lot more difficult. The problem is that I don’t know all of the cities that appear on the nightly weather report. It’s not just an issue of location; sometimes I don’t even know how to pronounce the names that appear on the TV screen.

To help me determine whether I need a coat tomorrow, I made a list of all the “weather cities” that appear on the national weather map hosted by public news broadcaster NHK. The following cities are grouped by the regions shown in their interactive weather map.

北海道 / Hokkaido Region

札幌Sapporo, Hokkaido
釧路Kushiro, Hokkaido
稚内Wakkanai, Hokkaido
網走Abashiri, Hokkaido
旭川Asahikawa, Hokkaido
帯広Obihiro, Hokkaido
室蘭Muroran, Hokkaido
函館Hakodate, Hokkaido

東北 / Tōhoku Region

青森Aomori City, Aomori
秋田Akita City, Akita
盛岡Morioka, Iwate
山形Yamagata City, Yamagata
仙台Sendai, Miyagi
福島Fukushima City, Fukushima

関東甲信越 / Kantō-Kōshin’etsu Region

A special note about Saitama City: Although the prefecture’s name is 埼玉, the capital city’s name, pronounced the same way, is officially written in hiragana.

新潟Niigata City, Niigata
前橋Maebashi, Gunma
宇都宮Utsunomiya, Tochigi
水戸Mito, Ibaraki
長野Nagano City, Nagano
さいたまSaitama City, Saitama
東京Tōkyō City, Tōkyō
千葉Chiba City, Chiba
小笠原Ogasawara Islands, Tōkyō
横浜Yokohama, Kanagawa
甲府Kōfu, Yamanashi

東海・北陸 / Tōkai and Hokuriku Regions

富山Toyama City, Toyama
金沢Kanazawa, Ishikawa
福井Fukui City, Fukui
岐阜Gifu City, Gifu
静岡Shizuoka City, Shizuoka
名古屋Nagoya City, Nagoya
Tsu, Mie

近畿 / Kinki Region

京都Kyōto City, Kyōto
大津Ōtsu, Shiga
神戸Kōbe, Hyōgo
大阪Ōsaka City, Ōsaka
奈良Nara City, Nara
和歌山Wakayama City, Wakayama

中国 / Chūgoku Region

鳥取Tottori City, Tottori
松江Matsue, Shimane
岡山Okayama City, Okayama
広島Hiroshima City, Hiroshima
山口Yamaguchi City, Yamaguchi

四国 / Shikoku Region

高松Takamatsu, Kagawa
徳島Tokushima City, Tokushima
松山Matsuyama, Ehime
高知Kōchi City, Kōchi

九州・沖縄 / Kyūshū and Okinawa Regions

那覇Naha, Okinawa
福岡Fukuoka City, Fukuoka
大分Ōita City, Ōita
熊本Kumamoto City, Kumamoto
宮崎Miyazaki City, Miyazaki
佐賀Saga City, Saga
長崎Nagasaki City, Nagasaki
南大東島Minami-Daitō[jima] Island, Okinawa
石垣島Ishigaki[jima] Island, Okinawa
宮古島Miyako[jima] Island, Okinawa
鹿児島Kagoshima City, Kagoshima
奄美Amami Islands, Okinawa

[Image Credits: NHK]

Tim Odagiri

Tim Odagiri is an author, software developer, and the host of Japan Everyday. He has published a dozen books and hundreds of articles covering technology, current events, and now life in Japan. Find his latest books at OwaniPress.com.

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