Keihanshin Kyoto–Osaka–Kobe Kinki MMA | |
|---|---|
Major metropolitan area of Japan | |
 Osaka  Sakai  Kyoto  Kobe | |
 Keihanshin Major Metropolitan Area | |
| Coordinates:34°50′N135°30′E / 34.833°N 135.500°E /34.833; 135.500 | |
| Country | Japan |
| Prefectures | |
| Area | |
| • Metro | 13,228 km2 (5,107 sq mi) |
| Population (October 1, 2015)[1] | |
| • Metro | 19,302,746 |
| • Metro density | 1,459/km2 (3,780/sq mi) |
| GDP[2] | |
| • Metro | JP¥92,464 billion (2022) US$713 billion (2022) |
Keihanshin (京阪神;Japanese pronunciation:[kei.haꜜɰ̃.ɕiɴ,keː-],[3]lit. 'Kyoto–Osaka–Kobe') is ametropolitan region in theKansai region ofJapan encompassing the metropolitan areas of the cities ofKyoto inKyoto Prefecture,Osaka inOsaka Prefecture andKobe inHyōgo Prefecture. The entire region has a population (as of 2015[update]) of 19,302,746 over an area of 13,228 km2 (5,107 sq mi).[4] It is the second-most-populatedurban region in Japan (after theGreater Tokyo Area), containing approximately 15% of Japan's population.
TheGDP in Osaka–Kobe is $681 billion as measured by PPP as of 2015[update], making it one of the world's most productive regions, a match withParis andLondon.[5]MasterCard Worldwide reported that Osaka is the 19th ranking city of the world's leading global cities and has an instrumental role in driving the global economy.[6] If Keihanshin were a country, it would be the 16th-largest economy in the world, with a GDP of nearly $953.9 billion in 2012.[7]
| Prefecture | Gross prefecture product (in billion JP¥, 2022)[2] | Gross prefecture product (in billion US$, 2022) |
|---|---|---|
 Osaka | 43,124 | 332 |
 Hyōgo | 23,463 | 181 |
 Kyoto | 11,108 | 86 |
 Shiga | 7,006 | 54 |
 Wakayama | 3,996 | 31 |
 Nara | 3,767 | 29 |
| Keihanshin | 92,464 | 713 |
The nameKeihanshin isconstructed by extracting a representativekanji fromKyoto(京都),Osaka(大阪), andKobe(神戸). For the characters taken fromOsaka andKobe, theChinese reading is used instead of the correspondingnative reading. For the character taken fromKyoto, theKan-on Chinese reading is used instead of the usualGo-on Chinese reading.
The Japan Statistics Bureau defines a Major Metropolitan Area or MMA (大都市圏) as a set of municipalities where at least 1.5% of the resident population aged 15 and above commute to school or work in adesignated city (defined as the core area).[8] If multiple designated cities are close enough to have overlapping outlying areas, they are combined into a single multi-core area. In the 2005 census, the designated cities used to define the Keihanshin MMA wereOsaka,Kobe, andKyoto.Sakai has subsequently become a designated city.
This region consists of the combination of the metropolitan areas of Osaka, Kobe, Kyoto, and Himeji, and additionally includes severalperiurban areas (particularly in easternShiga Prefecture) that are not part of the four metropolitan areas.
As of 2015[update], the entire Keihanshin region had a population of 19,302,746 over an area of 13,228 square kilometres (5,107 square miles).[4]
The Japan Statistics Bureau defines the set of municipalities that are entirely or mostly within 50 kilometres (31 miles) of the Municipal Office of Osaka as one measure of the metropolitan area. As of 2015[update], the population for this region was 16,260,117.[9]
TheUrban Employment Area is a metropolitan area definition developed at the Faculty of Economics of theUniversity of Tokyo.[10] This definition is comparable to theMetropolitan Statistical Area in theUnited States. The basic building blocks are municipalities.
The core area is the set of municipalities that contain adensely inhabited district (DID) with a population of 10,000 or more. The Urban Employment Area is called Metropolitan Employment Area, when its core area has 50,000 DID population or more. Otherwise, the area is called Micropolitan Employment Area. A DID is a group of census enumeration districts inhabited at densities of 4,000 or more persons per km2. Outlying areas are those municipalities where 10% or more of the employed population work in the core area or in another outlying area. Overlaps are not allowed and an outlying area is assigned to the core area where it has the highest commuter ratio.
This definition assigns a Metropolitan Employment Area to the following cities of the Keihanshin region: Osaka, Kobe, Kyoto, Himeji, and Wakayama. The lists below indicate which cities belong to which metropolitan area. Towns and villages are not listed.
Osaka metropolitan area Osaka MEA | |
|---|---|
 (2015) | |
 Interactive map of Osaka metropolitan area | |
| Prefectures | |
| Core cities | |
| Area (2011)[11] | |
• Total | 4,291.37 km2 (1,656.91 sq mi) |
| • Inhabitable area | 2,509.71 km2 (969.00 sq mi) |
| Population (2015)[12] | |
• Total | 12,078,820 |
| • Rank | 2nd in Japan |
| • Density | 2,814.68/km2 (7,289.98/sq mi) |
| GDP (nominal)[11] | 45.4 trillionJapanese yen (2010) |
The Osaka Metropolitan Employment Area has a population (as of 2015[update]) of 12,078,820[12] and consists of the following cities:
TheKyoto Metropolitan Employment Area has a population (as of 2015[update]) of 2,801,044[12] and consists of the following cities:
The Kobe Metropolitan Employment Area has a population (as of 2015[update]) of 2,565,501[12] and consists of the following cities:
The Himeji Metropolitan Employment Area has a population (as of 2015[update]) of 773,389[12] and consists of the following cities:
The Wakayama Metropolitan Employment Area has a population (as of 2015[update]) of 569,758[12] and consists of the following cities:
Per Japanese census data, Keihanshin, also known as Greater Osaka, has had continuous population throughout the 20th century. From 1960 to 2010 the population nearly doubled from 10.6 million to 19.3 million.[13][14] Beginning at around 2010, Keihanshin has experienced a small population decline.
| Year | Population |
|---|---|
| 1950 | 7,005,000 |
| 1960 | 10,615,000 |
| 1970 | 15,272,000 |
| 1980 | 17,028,000 |
| 1990 | 18,389,000 |
| 2000 | 18,660,180 |
| 2010 | 19,341,976 |
| 2020 | 19,223,980 |
The core cities formed Keihanshin aregovernment ordinance cities. These cities designated the three largest cities as special cities with Tokyo in 1889. Kobe designated the six largest cities as special cities in 1922, and adopted the ward system in 1931. Following World War II, the six largest cities was replaced by the government designated city system in 1956. Afterwards, Sakai became a government designated city in 2006.
The core cities of Keihanshin are:[15]
The other cities in the prefectures of Osaka, Hyōgo, Kyoto and Nara include:
In the major metropolitan area (MMA) definition used by the Japanese Statistics Bureau, the following cities in the prefectures ofMie,Shiga,Nara,Wakayama are included:
There are two major airports. The fairly centrally locatedOsaka International Airport, laid over the border between the cities ofItami andToyonaka, serves primarily domestic routes.
Kansai International Airport opened in 1994 and is now the main internationalairport for the region. It sits on anartificial island well off-shore inOsaka Bay towards theWakayama outlet.Kansai is the geographical term for the area of western Honshū surrounding Osaka. The airport island link to the mainland via theSky Gate Bridge R, containing a six lane expressway and theKansai Airport Line, a rail link connecting to theHanwa Line, which connectsWakayama toOsaka. Limited express trains offer non-stop service to Osaka and onward to Kyoto. Local connections are made to other areas. Highway buses also offer service to many areas.
Kobe Airport, built on a reclaimed island south ofPort Island opened in 2006, offering domestic flights.
Keihanshin has a very extensive network of railway lines, comparable to that of Greater Tokyo. Main rail terminals in the cities include,Umeda/Osaka,Namba,Tennoji,Sannomiya, andKyoto.
JR Central andJR West operatehigh-speed trains on theTōkaidō-Sanyō Shinkansen line.Shin-Ōsaka Station acts as theShinkansen terminal station, though the two lines are physically joined, and many trains offer through service. This station is connected toŌsaka Station atUmeda by theJR Kyoto Line and the subwayMidōsuji Line.Shin-Osaka Station is the busiest high-speed station. The smaller stations ofKyoto Station,Shin-Kobe Station,Nishi-Akashi Station,Himeji Station, andAioi Station also are within the Keihanshin area.
All trains on the twoShinkansen lines stop at Shin-Ōsaka Station and provide connections to other major cities in Japan. TheTokaido Shinkansen offers service to the east, stopping in such cities asKyoto,Nagoya,Yokohama andTokyo. FromTokyo connections can be made to otherShinkansen servicing areas north ofTokyo. TheSanyo Shinkansen offers service to the west, stopping in such cities asKobe,Okayama,Hiroshima, andFukuoka. Through service is also offered to theKyushu Shinkansen extending service to such cities asKumamoto andKagoshima.
There are also numerous Limited Express services which operate on conventional lines, but are designed for comfortable long-distance travel. Many of these trains operate at speeds that most other countries would consider "high-speed". FromOsaka andKyoto, Limited Express services connect most major cities within the Keihanshin area and beyond, and are more popular than theShinkansen for connections within the area due to service to more areas and more centrally located and well connected stations in areas also serviced byShinkansen. Lower ticket prices also encourages usage, though they are more expensive than the regular/commuter trains which operate on the same lines.
BothJR West and private lines connect Keihanshin and its suburbs. The commuter rail network of JR West is called theUrban Network. Major stations on the JROsaka Loop Line includeOsaka (Umeda),Tennōji,Tsuruhashi, andKyōbashi. JR West competes with such private rail operators asKeihan Electric Railway,Hankyu Railway,Hanshin Railway,Kintetsu Railway, andNankai Electric Railway. TheKeihan andHankyu lines connect Osaka and Kyoto; theHanshin andHankyu lines connect Osaka and Kobe; theKintetsu lines connect toNara,Yoshino,Ise andNagoya; and theNankai lines connect to Osaka's southern suburbs andKansai International Airport as well asWakayama andMt. Koya. Many lines in Keihanshin accept eitherICOCA orPiTaPa contactlesssmart cards for payment.[16]
Osaka, Kyoto and Kobe each have municipal subway systems. The Osaka Municipal Subway was privatized in 2018 and is now operated byOsaka Metro.[17]Other rapid transit systems in the region includeKobe New Transit which serves the artificial islands off the coast of Kobe including Kobe Airport, as well asOsaka Monorail that connects municipalities in Osaka Prefecture to Osaka International Airport.
Compared with other urban regions of the world, the agglomeration of Osaka-Kobe is the ninth largest economy, in terms of gross metropolitan product at purchasing power parity (PPP), in 2015 according to a study by theBrookings Institution.[18]
| Rank | Metro area | Country | GDP(PPP) (in billion US$) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tokyo |  Japan | 1,624 |
| 2 | New York |  United States | 1,492 |
| 3 | Los Angeles | United States | 927.6 |
| 4 | Seoul-Incheon |  South Korea | 903.5 |
| 5 | London |  United Kingdom | 831.1 |
| 6 | Paris |  France | 818.5 |
| 7 | Shanghai |  China | 809.5 |
| 8 | Moscow |  Russia | 749.7 |
| 9 | Osaka-Kobe | Japan | 681.0 |
| 10 | Beijing | China | 663.6 |
| Area | 1980 | 1985 | 1990 | 1995 | 2010 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Osaka MEA | 119.5 | 162.5 | 235.7 | 272.2 | 406.3 |
| Kyoto MEA | 23.7 | 34.0 | 45.7 | 53.9 | 90.6 |
| Kobe MEA | 22.0 | 31.0 | 44.0 | 48.7 | 75.5 |
| Himeji MEA | 7.3 | 10.1 | 13.7 | 17.3 | 26.4 |
| Wakayama MEA | 5.7 | 7.6 | 8.6 | 9.7 | 19.3 |
| Prefecture | Gross Prefecture Product (in billion yen)[22] | Gross Prefecture Product (in billion US$) |
|---|---|---|
| Osaka | 37,934 | 358 |
| Hyōgo | 19,788 | 187 |
 Kyoto | 10,054 | 95 |
| Shiga | 5,846 | 55 |
| Wakayama | 3,579 | 34 |
| Nara | 3,541 | 33 |
| Kansai Region | 80,741 | 762 |
Kansai region and Top 20 Countries.[23]
| Rank | Country | GDP (in US$) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | United States | 17.43 trillion | |
| 2 | China | 10.53 trillion | |
| 3 | Japan | 4.85 trillion | |
| ･･･ | |||
| 15 |  Mexico | 1.30 trillion | |
| 16 |  Turkey | 934.1 billion | |
| 17 |  Indonesia | 891.1 billion | |
| 18 |  Netherlands | 881.0 billion | |
| (Kansai Region) | 762.1 billion | ||
| 19 |  Saudi Arabia | 756.4 billion | |
| 20 |  Switzerland | 709.3 billion | |
| Africa (5) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Asia (36) |
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| Europe (5) | |||||||||||||
| America (8) |
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