Japan: cities by population
Japan has a population of 122,427,731 (UN estimate, 2026), with Tokyo as its capital. The 50 largest of its 1,972 recorded towns and cities, ranked.
-4%
since 2000 (127,027,789)
-14%
projected by 2050 (105,123,167)
325
people per km²
Figures are the latest available in GeoNames (CC BY 4.0), which draws on national censuses of varying dates — treat them as recent, not same-year. Country totals are UN World Population Prospects 2024 (medium variant) where the UN lists the country separately; the handful it reports under a parent state keep a GeoNames figure and are marked as such. Sources & method.
Largest cities in Japan
| # | Place | Region | Population |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tokyo | Tokyo | 9,733,276 |
| 2 | Yokohama | Kanagawa | 3,777,491 |
| 3 | Osaka | Osaka | 2,753,862 |
| 4 | Nagoya | Aichi | 2,332,176 |
| 5 | Sapporo | Hokkaido | 1,973,832 |
| 6 | Fukuoka | Fukuoka | 1,612,392 |
| 7 | Kawasaki | Kanagawa | 1,538,262 |
| 8 | Kobe | Hyōgo | 1,525,152 |
| 9 | Kyoto | Kyoto | 1,463,723 |
| 10 | Saitama | Saitama | 1,324,854 |
| 11 | Hiroshima | Hiroshima | 1,200,754 |
| 12 | Sendai | Miyagi | 1,096,704 |
| 13 | Chiba | Chiba | 979,768 |
| 14 | Kitakyushu | Fukuoka | 940,978 |
| 15 | Sakai | Osaka | 826,161 |
| 16 | Niigata | Niigata | 797,591 |
| 17 | Hamamatsu | Shizuoka | 791,707 |
| 18 | Kumamoto | Kumamoto | 738,907 |
| 19 | Aihara | Kanagawa | 725,493 |
| 20 | Okayama | Okayama | 724,691 |
| 21 | Sagamihara | Kanagawa | 720,780 |
| 22 | Shizuoka | Shizuoka | 693,389 |
| 23 | Kawaguchi | Saitama | 607,373 |
| 24 | Kagoshima | Kagoshima | 595,049 |
| 25 | Hachiōji | Tokyo | 579,355 |
| 26 | Kotō | Kumamoto | 543,730 |
| 27 | Himeji | Hyōgo | 530,495 |
| 28 | Utsunomiya | Tochigi | 518,757 |
| 29 | Matsuyama | Ehime | 511,192 |
| 30 | Matsudo | Chiba | 498,575 |
| 31 | Higashiosaka | Osaka | 493,940 |
| 32 | Nishinomiya | Hyōgo | 485,587 |
| 33 | Kurashiki | Okayama | 483,576 |
| 34 | Ōita | Oita | 477,715 |
| 35 | Fukuyama | Hiroshima | 468,812 |
| 36 | Kanazawa | Ishikawa | 466,029 |
| 37 | Amagasaki | Hyōgo | 459,593 |
| 38 | Fujisawa | Kanagawa | 439,728 |
| 39 | Kashiwa | Chiba | 433,436 |
| 40 | Machida | Tokyo | 431,079 |
| 41 | Toyota | Aichi | 426,162 |
| 42 | Shinagawa | Ehime | 422,488 |
| 43 | Takamatsu | Kagawa | 418,994 |
| 44 | Toyama | Toyama | 415,844 |
| 45 | Yokosuka | Kanagawa | 409,478 |
| 46 | Nagasaki | Nagasaki | 409,118 |
| 47 | Hirakata | Osaka | 406,331 |
| 48 | Gifu | Gifu | 402,557 |
Twenty years earlier: Japan in the 2005 World Gazetteer — population then 128,137,485.
Common questions
What is the population of Japan?
Japan has a population of 122,427,731, the UN World Population Prospects estimate for 2026. The UN's medium-variant projection for 2050 is 105,123,167 — a forecast, not a measurement.
What is the capital of Japan?
Tokyo.