Okinawa prefecture

| Main Article
| Discussion
| Related Articles  [?]
| Bibliography  [?]
| External Links  [?]
| Citable Version  [?]

|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|

This editable Main Article is under development and subject to a disclaimer.

[edit intro]

This article is about the Japanese administrative area. For other uses of the term Okinawa, please see Okinawa (disambiguation).

Okinawa prefecture (沖縄県 Okinawa-ken) is a subtropical area of Japan consisting of many of the Ryukyu Islands (南西諸島 Nansai Shotoo 'Southwest Islands'). Its population was 1,368,000 in 2006.[1]

Okinawa prefecture shares its name with its largest island, Okinawa (沖縄本島 Okinawa-hontoo) and one of its cities, Okinawa (沖縄市 Okinawa-shi).

Okinawa and the other Ryukyu Islands are home to the Ryukyuan languages (琉球語 Ryuukyugo) and people (ウチナンチュ Uchinanchu, written in the Japanese script), who are a separate ethnic group within Japan. The eleven languages of this group are not mutually comprehensible with modern Japanese.[2]

## Footnotes[edit]

1. ↑ Japan Statistical Yearbook: 'Population by Prefecture 1920-2006'. Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. .xls document.
2. ↑ Ethnologue: 'Ethnologue Report for Ryukyuan' and 'Ethnologue Report for Japan'.

## See also[edit]

* Okinawa Island
* Ryukyu Islands
* Kagoshima prefecture
* Kyushu
* Japan
* Ryukyuan languages