Regions, Prefectures, Areas, Districts, Municipalities... what does it all mean?


People always ask me what part of Aomori is Noheji a part of. Most people think of Aomori as being made up of three areas; Tsugaru, Nambu and Shimokita. Everyone knows Tsugaru as the place where old folks speak that wacky "Tsugaru ben" dialect. Nambu is where the Shinkansen terminates, doesn't have much snow, and is home to Aomori's only Taco Bell and Burger King. Shimokita is of course famous for its supposedly wild horses and its towns infested with very wild monkeys. Noheji sits right where these three areas meet, though it's always been unclear to me in which one it technically belongs. My mailing address only lists my district as "Kamikita". The map of Aomori provided to me by JET seems to indicate that Kamikita is some kind of 4th, lesser region that nobody ever talks about. I decided today (since I have nothing better to do) to finally get to the bottom of this, and hopefully figure out what Kamikita Gun is all about. What I discovered was enlightening, and at times confusing as well as surprising. Thanks to this site I discovered the following:


Aomori Prefecture is made up of cities (Aomori City,

Goshogawara, Hachinohe, Hirosaki, Kuroishi, Misawa, Mutsu, Towada) and districts. Kamikita district is made up of these towns:
Kamikita, Momoishi, Noheji, Rokkasho, Rokunohe, Shichinohe, Shimoda,

Tenmabayashi, Tohoku, Towadako, and Yokohama.


I was surprised to see Towadako, Momoishi and Shimoda on that list since they are all nowhere near Noheji. So what exactly is a "District" or "Gun"? Well here is a breakdown of what towns you'll find in the rest of 'em...


Higashitsugaru: Hiranai, Imabetsu, Kanita, Minmaya, Tairadate, Yomogita


Kitatsugaru: Itayanagi, Kanagi, Kodomari, Nakasato, Shiura, Tsuruta


Minamitsugaru: Fujisaki, Hiraka, Ikarigaseki, Inakadate, Namioka, Onoe,
Owani, Tokiwa


Nakatsugaru: Iwaki, Nishimeya, Souma


Nishitsugaru: Ajigasawa, Fukaura, Inagaki, Iwasaki, Kashiwa, Kizukuri, Morita, Shariki


Sannohe: Fukuchi, Gonohe, Hashikami, Nagawa, Nanbu, Nangou, Sannohe, Shingo, Takko


Shimokita: Higashidori, Kawauchi, Kazamaura, Ohata, Oma, Sai, Wakinosawa


So surprisingly with 11 towns Kamikita would appear to be the largest district in Aomori! So lets take a look at the numbers then. In 2003 Kamikita district had an estimated population of 112,411 and a population density of 68.01 persons per km?. The total area of the district is 1,652.85 km?. That's a bigger area and population than any other district! Word.


But which of the Big 3 areas is Noheji part of? This still is a little unclear. Well, according to the official Aomori Guide Book Noheji is part of "Nambu Area". I often work in the Kamikita towns of Rokkasho and Yokohama, and they both seem to fall within the "Shimokita Area" but not "Shimokita Gun". So then what exactly is an "Area"? Is this some kind of official designation, or just the way people think of Aomori? I still haven't figured this one out yet. The guide book seems to break it up into 5 areas rather than 3. It seems like "Nambu" isn't really any kind of real area at all, but just some unofficial term used to vaguely describe the east side of Aomori Prefecture. Noheji doesn't seem to fit in with other Nambu Area towns with it's massive snow dumps and lack of fast food. That's why I've decided not to consider myself to be "From Nambu" but "From Kamikita" instead. Kamikita is where it's at, so you better recognize boi and show some respect next time you pass through the area while on the way to some place more interesting.