Chūbu region

Chūbu region 中部地方
Region
The Chūbu region in Japan
Area
• Total	72,572.34 km2 (28,020.34 sq mi)
Population (1 October 2010)
• Total	21,715,822
• Density	300/km2 (780/sq mi)
Time zone	JST (UTC+9)

The Chūbu region (中部地方, Chūbu-chihō^?) is the central region of Honshū, Japan's main island. Chūbu has a population of 21,715,822 as of 2010.

Chūbu, which means "central region", encompasses nine prefectures (ken): Aichi, Fukui, Gifu, Ishikawa, Nagano, Niigata, Shizuoka, Toyama, and Yamanashi.

It is located directly between the Kantō region and the Kansai region and includes the major city of Nagoya as well as along Pacific and Sea of Japan coastlines, extensive mountain resorts, and Mount Fuji.

The region is the widest part of Honshū and the central part is characterized by high, rugged mountains. The Japanese Alps divide the country into the Pacific side, sunny in winter, and the Sea of Japan side, snowy in winter.

The Chūbu region covers a large and geographically diverse area of Honshū which leads to it generally being divided into three distinct subregions: Tōkai, Kōshin'etsu, and Hokuriku. There is also another subregion occasionally referred to in business circles called Chūkyō.