Recommend some anime with, err, good plots.

"Kyūshū" is pronounced like "Queue - Shoe" "Ryūkyū" is "Ryu (like the guy in the Street Fighter) - Queue". Dunno where the dragon etymology came from as the Kanji for the region (琉球) literally means "Precious Stone Ball". Fun Fact: Most Pokemon regions are based on Japan's regions, hence the Kanto reference. Chūgoku has the same Kanji for the name China, i.e. 中国 Japan had an ancient system of naming their areas: the "Five Provinces and Seven Circuits". And when Hokkaido was introduced, it became "Five Provinces and Eight Circuits". The most famous of these is Tokaido now usually seen in railway lines like the Tokaido Shinkansen. Tip: this was explained by a YTer who's kinda inactive nowadays kzfaq.info/get/bejne/gNVpfK55vtK3d4U.html

8:01 That demonetization joke was golden

Region starts with the letter K NameExplain... JOOSHOO

imagine pronouncing "Kyushu" like "Jyushu"

Kanto = Kanto Part of Chubu = Johto Kyushu = Hoenn (rotated) Hokkaido = Sinnoh That'd be pretty common knowledge for Pokémon players

i see japan has taken on the australian method of province naming

almost nobody in Japan knows this, but your etymology of Hokkaidoo isn't correct. The KAI originally didn't mean 'sea', but rather 'ainu land'; a word that one of the earlier discoverers gave to it. the Japanese government later changed the spelling of KAI to fit the meaning of 'sea'. So the actual meaning was "the way to the northern ainu lands" . It was written as 北加伊道

'Chugoku' is also the Japanese word for China if things weren't confusing before

Fun fact: Osaka used to be much smaller until they started moving dirt to fill in the bay. Perhaps it was more hilly before that? In fact, neighborhoods like Umeda are 100% man-made. Umeda is written as 梅田 (plum field), but it was originally 埋田 (filled-in field) which is pronounced exactly the same. However, that sense of "fill in" also has the connotation of "burial." They probably changed it to something more pleasant so the area wouldn't seem like one big graveyard. On a similar note, Kyoto's Toribeno neighborhood actually WAS one big graveyard and its name reflects that. In early times, it was common to leave dead bodies out in the open to be picked apart by birds, hence the name Toribeno essentially meaning "land where birds are." It eventually become a fairly normal residential area, albeit one with a lot of ghost stories. One block is called Rokuro-cho 轆轤町 (potter's wheel town), which seems confusing since there's no connection to pottery. Apparently it used to be Dokuro-cho 髑髏町 (skull town), but they changed it to improve their image. One old temple in Rokuro-cho is famous for performing funeral rites on the bodies left out in the open, while another supposedly has a portal to hell in their garden.

i grew up in Taiwan, and it was only until my teenage years that I found out a lot of the place names in Taiwan also came from Japanese (i.e. 松山, 清水, 桃園, 岡山, 板橋...etc.), which would make sense given the history. I just didn't realize, and my mind was blown.

"Zhu-shu"?

7:18 I'm at the moment living in Sendai, so I thought I could comment on that. It is called the City of Trees, but tbh nowadays it's mostly made of concrete. And it's weird you haven't found the etymology of the name as it is written in bold letters on Wikipedia. "At this time Sendai was written as 千代 ("a thousand generations"), because a temple with a thousand Buddha statues (千体, sentai) used to be located in Aobayama. Masamune changed the kanji to "仙臺", which later became "仙台" (literally: "hermit/wizard" plus "platform/plateau" or more figuratively, "hermit on a platform/high ground"). The character came from a Chinese poem that praised a palace created by the Emperor Wen of Han China (reigned 180-157 BCE), comparing it to a mythical palace in the Kunlun Mountains. Tradition says that Masamune chose this kanji so that the castle would prosper as long as a mountain inhabited by an immortal hermit." From Wikipedia

"Ezo ... 'Land of barbarians' because it was so untamed" And maybe because the Japanese viewed the Ainu as barbarians. Although, yeah, you could call that "untamed" as well.

Most people in the chugoku region called it san'in san'yo region to avoid confusion

Skip to 2:31 for how the islands and regions of Japan got their names.

"Means hermit and stand" Joseph Joestar noises

Why do you pronounce Kyushu with a J sound, but the Ky in Kyoto correctly?

The people of Okinawa have the longest life span in the world.

Hokkaido is my favorite of the main islands. So nice during the winter and fall. They have a festival in Sapporo during the winter with awesome ice sculptures. Anime wise, I like Speed Racer, Jojo, Fist of the North Star, Hetalia, and Pokémon

I’ve lived in 仙台 (Sendai), 川崎 (Kawasaki), and 横浜 (Yokohama). Sendai was founded by Daimyō (Lord) Date Masamune as his base of operations to govern the region in 1600. It used to be written as 仙臺 and was later simplified (this is the same character as 台北 Taipei and 台湾Taiwan). Nagasaki and Kawasaki are both named for peninsulas (kawa means river). Regions of Japan are informal grouping like the The South or Midwest in the US. The formal divisions are the 47 都道府県 (prefectures), each has a capital city and its own flag.

8:20 -- BTW, this map is upside down.

D-Did you just say "Japan's more Northern Ireland"?

Each island has it's own railway company, yet they share two letters. JR. Formerly, JNR controlled all Japanese rail bhut after the privatization of some parts, it was split altogether.

Chugoku also means 'China' in Japanese

i'm just commenting to say i'm glad many others have corrected your pronunciation already. romaji is meant to be literal!!!!

For Chugoku, the Japanese Wikipedia says that it might be a leftover name from the times when all regions were classified depending on how far away they were from the capital. Apparently the closest regions were called 'the near countries', the farthest were called 'the far countries', while the Chugoku regions were somewhere in between, hence they were the 'middle countries' 🤨

I am a Japanese student who lives in Tokyo. And I really enjoyed watching this video. I have learned something new. I thought about this but the names in Japan is based on the Chinese Characters/kanji. So I am interested to know how the other areas of the world got there name which uses the Chinese Characters. I don't know about this but isn't weird to translate the Chinese Characters individually into English words. Like the kanjis 北海道 into northern sea road. Is it only my who thinks about this? Enjoy your day I guess. ;P

3:43, Yoshinogawa Service Area in Tokushima Prefecture: An AWESOME place!! 😳😎 I recommend diving off the cliffs into the Yoshinogawa River!

In regards to Chugoku, the early Japanese settlement was from Kyushu up to the border of Kanto and Tohoku. At that time, the Chugoku region would have been the central region of Japan.

You literally didn't mention Nagoya in Chubu

Congrats on the Crunchyroll sponsorship and secondly, I'm really intrigued about this. Please do more content about Japan in the future.

I think you would make huge success if you would do a video explaining the ethimological/cultural origins of the most common names. Things like Alexander, who came from Macedon, "the protector of man".

In addition to the beer, Sapporo is also famous as the host of the 1972 Winter Olympics.

8:50 as opposed to a vertical beach, of course.

The name Chugoku Region comes from the Heian period when the two centres of power was at Kyoto and Dazaifu in Kyushu. The region in between hence became known as Chugoku... middle regions. Please do some proper research.

Most of the Japanese place names is very straightforward when translated to Chinese. Shikoku, for example, is translated to “四国” which literally means four countries/regions.

He pronounced Nara and Kyushu wrong.He thinks that 'ky' is pronounced as 'j' as in French. Edit:It was actually Naha,not Nara

I love how the old map shown in the bit explaining Kyoto and Tokyo is clearly upside down if you look at the writing on it.

In regards to Sendai, from Wikipedia: [In the 1600s] Sendai was written as 千代 ("a thousand generations"), because a temple with a thousand Buddha statues (千体, sentai) used to be located in Aobayama. Masamune changed the kanji to "仙臺", which later became "仙台" (literally: "hermit/wizard" plus "platform/plateau" or more figuratively, "hermit on a platform/high ground"). The character came from a Chinese poem that praised a palace created by the Emperor Wen of Han China (reigned 180-157 BCE), comparing it to a mythical palace in the Kunlun Mountains. Tradition says that Masamune chose this kanji so that the castle would prosper as long as a mountain inhabited by an immortal hermit.

I did a double take at 9:20 because that's the exact same photo as my desktop background ever since I was a teenager. So I had a second of "wait did the browser close?? Where are my desktop icons???" lol

中国 (ちゅうごく) also means China

6:35 This is really inaccurate. While it's certainly possible to see Mt Fuji from Tokyo, there is a mountain range between the city and mountain itself which means that only the very top is visible.

Chugoku means central country for the very reason you imagined, it was more central to the japanese people from the Yayoi period to the Nara period.

It would appear that some people count Okinawa (the largest of the Ryukyu Islands) as one of Japan's main islands. Probably to bring the total to five - in Japan, four is said to be an unlucky number.

I like Okinawa, the origin of karate. And the Stitch anime takes place there

Great video. Well done! :) ( I understand, that you live from advertising your sponsors, but near to 1:40 only for advertising? )

Chugoku = 中国 = China Ironic how the same word is interpreted differently. 'central country' vs 'middle kingdom'

5:06. NO CAPES!

This guy has big brains. Putting a Crunchyroll ad on a video about Japan

if you joke about coronavirus then corona beer for you

Turn on the subtitle at 2:06, it says: "however as well as being split geographically by Ireland [...]"

The origin of the place name is interesting. I live in a place called Goi in Japan. The commission for the name came from the famous sword maker, Kaji, who used to make He said that they built five wells because they needed water for their wells. The reason why we built five wells is because It was to be delivered to a famous general. The name "Goi" is said to have come from that.

I have found 3 theories for the origin of Sendai's name. 1. Although the current kanjis are 仙台, up to the 17th century, it was called 千代 (pronunciation is sendai or chiyo) which means a long time, or thousand years. It was the name of the war lord Date Masamune's castle there. But actually it was called 千体 Sentai ("thousand bodies") as there were a lot of buddhist statues around. And the t became a d in spoken language quickly, probably on purpose, as the thousand years meaning was more imposant for a castle. After this they chose not so common kanjis as it was a name (this happened a lot in Japan). It became 仙臺 (the kanjis of wizard and kitchen) but in the modern era, there was a huge kanji simplification movement, so it ended up as 仙台. 台 is still the first kanji of the word "kitchen". 2. In Ainu language, Sepu Nai means "wide river". This became Sendai for the Japanese. As Sendai has a big river called Hirosegawa. 3. The district the castle was is called 川内 Kawauchi in Japanese reading, but the Chinese reading of it is Sennai which became Sendai. Usually you read kanjis together with the Chinese reading, but names are exceptions. 川内 means "in the river". I hope it helped a little, although there's no clear answer.

I'd be keen to see the origins of names of the Channel Islands (if you haven't already done so, of course).

Name Explain is answering the real questions.

I have a feeling many of these places used to have their own names that are now lost to history, and probably renamed for administrative reasons by newer occupants / rulers. An example is Tokyo which literally mean Eastern Capital. Formerly it was called Edo and this can still be seen in the naming of some landmarks in Tokyo, such as the Toei Oedo line where Oedo and Edo more or less sounds he same.

Glad to see that Crunchyroll sponsored you on the japan video

3:19 rip Mr. Iwata

You should do a video about how Battle ships get there names.

I like how straightforward the names are 😂

Want me to make the Chuugoku region even more confusing? 「中国」(Chuugoku) is also the name for "China" in Japanese as 「国」can also mean "Country". I remember I was on r/Translator and saw something that had 「中国」on it and commented that it had something to do with China. And that's when I learned about the Chuugoku region as someone with more knowledge of Japanese told me that it wasn't referring to China based on context I was unable to read.

Fun fact: chūgoku also means china. Not even kidding, exact same kanji and everything. 中国. Although now it's sometimes referred to as the san'in and san'yo regions to avoid confusing tourists

Chuugoku also means China in Japanese. I wonder how they differentiate it. Do they call it Chuugoku chihou or they use some nickname for the region as to not confuse it with China?

Chyugoku means China in Japanese. In fact in kanji it's written 中国, and Chinese people use the same symbols for the name of China, as far as I'm aware (I don't know that much Chinese) That region is the closest of all of them to China so it might make sense

Kyushu is pronounced like its written, jyu is closer to the number ten rather than nine. Nine in japanese is Kyu.

Hiroshima is named after the Mori clan's castle with its name, which was coined by taking one letter from the Mori ancestral father Oe-no-Hiromoto, and the local warrior Fukushima Motonaga who helped Mori in subjugating the area. The name Hiroshima (vast islands) was also befitting because the castle was built on one of the many islands that composed the now lost delta.

Chugoku it's kind of awkward because in Japanese chugoku also means china, and is written the same

And I just thought Honshu was a nebula class starship 😕

Would have been great to include the kanji, as most of the names get really obvious once you split them into the kanji

These pronunciations are KILLING me lol! Regardless, Chugoku region probably traces its name origin to pre Sengoku era where, given how Japan used to be riven in two parts(East and West ; the whole point behind Tokyo and Kyoto), it was probably seen as a middle province of sorts. Even so, Kinki seems more central to me, but...what do I know?

7:27 is this the work of an enemy stand???

1st 4 Pokémon Regions are 4 inspired by Japan: Kanto = Kanto Kansai = Johto Kyushu = Hoenn Hokkaido = Sinnoh The latest 4 are based on places outside Japan: Unova is based on Manhattan & surrounding parts of New York City. Kalos is based on Northern France. Alola is based of 4 of 8 islands of Hawaii. Galar is based on just England (No Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland but their culture is is big part of this region) but it is upside down. Was in egotistical of Game Freak to make the 1st region the region of Japan where Tokyo, the capital is?

Horizontal beach as opposed to the typical vertical beach

The name of Sendai comes from the 1000 buddha statues in the Aksagarbha Hall in Daimanji Temple. 1000 buddhas in Japanese is Sentai-butsu 千體佛. The place was written as Sendai 千代, meaning thousand generations first, but was changed to the current 仙臺 when the Date clan took their seat in the city, and retranscribed the name based on a line from a classical chinese poem that went 仙臺初見五城楼.

Did you really just ignore Nagoya, the biggest city in Chubu and the 4th most populous city in Japan?

Fun fact: Sendai is the birthplace and hometown of Hirohito Araki, the manga artist who draws JoJo’s Bizzare Adventure. Morioh from Parts 4 and 8 is based on Sendai.

Why did I never realize that shikoku literally just means 4 country. I studied japan studies for 1,5 years and never noticed it

7:30 ish is that a jojo reference

1:38 Japan is a island by the sea filled with volcanoes and it's BEAUTIFUL

As someone learning Japanese, your pronunciations gave me pain

I'm Brazilian Japanese, and used to be confused about Chugoku, because it's also "China" (the country) in Japanese as well

The name "Hokkaidō" (北海道) will make more sense if you know the ancient regional unit 道(dō) imported from Tang dynasty in China. The ancient court divided Japan except Ezo into the following: 畿内 (Kinai) (meaning direct-controlled district): current Kinki 東海道 (Tōkai-dō; East-sea Road) : current Tokai region + Kanto region 東山道 (Tōsan-dō; East-mountain Road)：current Tohoku region 北陸道 (Hokuriku-dō; North-land Road) : current Hokuriku region 山陰道 (San-in-dō; Mountain-back Road) ：current San-in region 山陽道 (San-yō-dō; Mountain-front Road) ：current San-yō region 南海道 (Nankai-dō; South-sea Road) : current Shikoku 西海道 (Seinan-dō; West-sea Road) : current Kyushu Meiji government added 北海道 (Hokkaidō) to these broad regions. Though, it's too large for the actual use that smaller unit 県 (ken) took place except in Hakkaidō. The above regional names still can be found in the name of Shinkansen. Maybe, you've heard of Tōkaidō Shinkansen. Tips: Korea still uses this unit for the prefecture.

And people complain about English speaking people naming things creatively. Just another thing that brings us all together. :)

Chuugoku might not be in the center of Japan, but if you zoom out it's kind of in the center of Japan. Also historically it was the center of action.

I hope the Land Of Fire has ninjas...

Chugoku likely means central country because in the past Japan didn’t go much further than chubu

those people share one national flag, whereas united kingdom comprises england, wales, scotland and the northern area of ireland where each region has own national flag. some of japanese cant understand what they are saying about the union jack when they hear it comprises regional flags.

The map at 8L15 is upside-down.

Petition for name explained for all kinds of road

When I was in 3rd grade, we had to read a book about a little girl who got leukemia from the atomic bombing of either Hiroshima or Nagasaki (I forget which one) and tried to make 1000 paper cranes (I think to plead for her life, I forgot). At the end, we all learned how to make paper cranes (I still do sometimes), but that book was super sad and my mom didn't know why the teacher thought it was appropriate for 3rd graders.

It's said that Osaka大阪... used to be Osaka小坂...small hill, referring to the shallow slope where Osaka castle stands. (Oh saka and Os aka... there is a difference in pronunciation.) 'Small' was not fitting for a castle, so it was changed to great hill. Osaka.

1:37 for video start

chugoku is also the japanese name for china, so i always thought they named it that cause it is closest to china? and maybe the area where they initially met? or traded with them? or it is just a coincidence.

Chugoku is also the Japanese word for China

Watch re:zero it's an amazing anime season 2 launching this year aswel

How did the iran/iraq/syria /lebanon (the middle east contries) got their names? I know im not a patreon but If you find it a good idea for a video you can make it.

Hokkaido is also famous for its dairy products.

Matsuyama City on Shikoku island is named after Matsuhira (Tokugawa Ieyasu), the head of the Tokugawa clan who build Matsuyama castle on Katsuyama mountain (victory mountain). Many castles (and hence cities) have Matsu in them because of the connection to the Tokugawa clan. Please don't speculate but do some research when making these videos.

Name explain: *admits he is an anime fan* Me: NANI?!