Japan is divided into 47 prefectures.
| 県 | ken | prefecture |
Of the current 47 prefectures, most use the word 県 ken prefecture; so, for example, 埼玉県 Saitama-ken Saitama Prefecture, 千葉県 Chiba-ken Chiba Prefecture, and 神奈川県 Kanagawa-ken Kanagawa Prefecture.
| 府 | fu | prefecture |
2 prefectures uses the word 府 fu prefecture; 大阪府 Ōsaka-fu Ōsaka Prefecture 京都府 Kyōto-fu Kyōto Prefecture.
| 道 | dō | prefecture |
1 prefecture uses 道 dō prefecture; 北海道 Hokkaidō Hokkaidō Prefecture. I’m hesitant to say “Hokkaidō Prefecture” because the “dō” is never separated from the word in Japanese or English, so Hokkaidō Prefecture would be back-translated into Japanese as 北海道道 Hokkaidōdō, which just sounds retarded.
| 都 | to | metropolis |
Finally, we have 都 to metropolis, of which there can only be one. And that is 東京都 Tōkyō-to Tōkyō Metropolis.
The Japanese had been sending officials overseas to Europe and America to look at how education, government, international relations, business, and industry were being handled in those countries. These ambassadorial missions had begun in the final years of the Tokugawa regime and became regular when foreign relations became normalized under the Meiji regime.
Since the Meiji regime was centered on a divine emperor, they had a unique problem. While the American model was progressive, industrial, realistic, and had also overthrown a previous regime, America espoused states’ rights, separation of church and state, and it enfranchised voters; as such, it wasn’t a good match for this particular brand of revolutionary oligarchs.
In the final days of the Tokugawa shōgunate, France had been trading and supplying weapons, training, and military help to the Japanese. France had been using the word préfecture since Napoleon’s time for its own major civil administrative units.
Now that for the first time since the European Age of Enlightenment, Japan had normalized relations with other countries and they were rapidly modernizing in an effort to catch up with the western powers. The major western powers they were dealing with were all speaking a somewhat related languages, or had at least been dealing with one another for such a long period of time that they shared many political terms. Each country had standard vocabulary they could use in discussing another country. Japan was new to this game and with a language related to nothing outside of it besides China and Korea.
In order to create a diplomatic language that showed Japan in a particular light, they decided upon a few things. They decided that the word 国会 kokkai national assembly should be translated into English in the same way as the German words Landtag (state parliament) and Reichstag (national parliament). They saw the German Empire as strong and historical and emperor-centric and it was good enough for them. The second thing they chose was the word “prefecture.” They chose this for a number of reasons. First, France had been using the word préfecture. Secondly, there was a long standing precedent. When the Portuguese came to Japan in the 1500’s, they used the word prefeitura which translates easily into the language of any country with a history connected to the Roman Empire.Thirdly, this term “prefecture” indicated – in no uncertain terms – that the governor of the area was appointed by the emperor. He wasn't an elected official. And lastly, it didn't carry any connotation of a quasi-independent “state.” In particular, they didn't want to be compared to those pesky states of the United States of America.
-The more you know~
I never knew
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