Urban Employment Area

A map of Tokyo MEA in 2015.
A map showing Kobe, Osaka, Kyoto, and Nagoya MEAs in 2015.

Urban Employment Area (都市雇用圏, Toshi Koyō-ken) is a definition of metropolitan areas used in Japan, defined by the Center for Spatial Information Service of the University of Tokyo. Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry defined 233 areas for the UEAs of Japan.[1] It is different from the definition of metropolitan areas defined in census by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. For the latter scheme, see the List of metropolitan areas in Japan article.

The basic principle of UEA is similar to that of the Statistics Bureau definition; a central city and its associated outlying municipalities with certain numbers of commuters. A UEA with at least 50,000 DID (Densely Inhabited District) population is called Metropolitan Employment Area (大都市雇用圏, Dai-toshi Koyō-ken) or MEA for short in English. A UEA with at least 10,000 and less than 50,000 DID population is called Micropolitan Employment Area (小都市雇用圏, Shō-toshi Koyō-ken) or McEA for short in English.

Definition

Central city
  • If a municipality has at least 10,000 DID population, and is not a suburb of any other municipalities, it is defined as a central city.
  • Even if a municipality is a suburb of another, it can still be defined as a central city. In this case, a municipality must have workers working there more than those living there. It must also have a DID population of at least 10,000, or a third of the population of the central city.
Suburb
  • If municipality A has more than 10% of its population commuting to central city B, A is defined as a (primary) suburb of B.
    • If there are multiple such cities for suburb A, the one with the most commuters from A is defined as A's central city.
  • If municipality A has more than 10% of its population commuting to another suburb of central city B, and if no other municipalities have more commuters from A, A is defined as a secondary suburb or lower of B.
  • If municipality A has more than 10% of its population commuting to B and vice versa, the one with the higher percentage of commuters is defined as the suburb of the other.
  • If a central city comprises multiple municipalities, the number of commuters to all those municipalities are counted for the calculations above.

Top 100 Urban Employment Areas in Japan

Tokyo MEA
Osaka MEA
Nagoya MEA
Kyoto MEA
Fukuoka MEA
Kobe MEA
Sapporo MEA
Sendai MEA
Okayama MEA
Hiroshima MEA

Source: Urban Employment Area (UEA) Code Table, "地域経済の将来動向分析に関する調査研究" [A study on the future trend analysis of the regional economy] (in Japanese).

  • W/L here is jūgyō jōjū jinkōhi (従業常住人口比), the ratio of workers in the area, against the number of workers living in the area.
  • DID population here is a population of central city. If an area has multiple central cities, only the most populous one among them is counted.
  • A 2015 population decrease from 2005 is written in red figures.
  • Metropolitan Employment Area (MEA) is listed on white background. Micropolitan Employment Area (McEA) is listed on yellow background.
  • Prefectural capital is numbered with blue background.
  • 1980 ranks include Kurashiki MEA, which was merged with Okayama MEA in 2000. Those under No. 100 are marked as "-".
2015 1980 Name Pop.
(2015) 		Pop.
(1980) 		W/L
(2015) 		GDP
(in billion US$)
(2010)[2][3]
1 1 Tokyo MEA [Wikidata] 35,303,778 26,624,003 1.72 1,797.9
2 2 Osaka MEA [Wikidata] 12,078,820 11,170,018 1.82 516.8
3 3 Nagoya MEA [Wikidata] 6,871,632 4,538,832 1.23 256.3
4 4 Kyoto MEA [Wikidata] 2,801,044 2,361,205 1.14 115.3
5 6 Fukuoka MEA [Wikidata] 2,565,501 1,773,129 1.22 101.6
6 5 Kobe MEA [Wikidata] 2,419,973 2,047,561 1.03 96.0
7 7 Sapporo MEA [Wikidata] 2,362,914 1,751,996 1.01 84.7
8 10 Sendai MEA [Wikidata] 1,612,499 1,248,616 1.11 61.7
9 14 Okayama MEA [Wikidata] 1,526,503 750,188 1.05 63.1
10 9 Hiroshima MEA [Wikidata] 1,431,634 1,327,198 1.02 61.3
11 8 Kitakyushu MEA [Wikidata] 1,314,276 1,524,747 1.04 55.7
12 54 Maebashi MEA [Wikidata] 1,263,034 341,331 1.07 59.8
13 13 Hamamatsu MEA [Wikidata] 1,129,296 825,503 0.98 54.3
14 12 Kumamoto MEA [Wikidata] 1,111,596 836,892 1.02 39.8
15 25 Utsunomiya MEA [Wikidata] 1,103,745 547,545 1.06 50.7
16 32 Toyama MEA [Wikidata] 1,066,328 504,353 1.10 49.5
17 15 Niigata MEA [Wikidata] 1,060,013 726,983 1.01 43.3
18 11 Shizuoka MEA [Wikidata] 988,056 966,074 1.05 45.8
19 79 Tsukuba MEA [Wikidata] 843,402 216,337 1.18 37.1
20 20 Naha MEA [Wikidata] 830,532 616,010 1.24 26.8
21 16 Gifu MEA 823,219 711,981 1.03 32.2
22 22 Takamatsu MEA 819,327 592,555 1.07 34.7
23 24 Nagasaki MEA 785,108 553,101 1.06 27.9
24 17 Himeji MEA 773,389 709,219 1.03 33.6
25 30 Fukuyama MEA 753,528 517,514 1.00 31.5
26 19 Kanazawa MEA 747,780 626,523 1.13 31.7
27 21 Oita MEA 737,936 608,653 1.03 28.9
28 18 Kagoshima MEA 724,236 662,737 1.02 26.4
29 28 Mito MEA 687,734 532,911 1.16 30.3
30 27 Toyohashi MEA 670,144 540,880 0.95 31.0
31 36 Tokushima MEA 659,744 478,772 1.14 28.4
32 39 Fukui MEA 646,813 454,495 1.17 28.7
33 26 Matsuyama MEA 637,608 542,188 1.01 24.5
34 29 Yokkaichi MEA 623,210 522,233 1.08 29.1
35 94 Ota MEA 613,825 161,945 1.16 21.6
36 31 Nagano MEA 589,549 514,136 1.06 24.9
37 37 Kofu MEA 586,986 476,543 1.22 25.2
38 23 Wakayama MEA 569,758 566,668 1.08 24.6
39 55 Koriyama MEA 544,662 341,004 1.08 20.2
40 40 Yamagata MEA 534,571 415,965 1.10 20.0
41 34 Kochi MEA 519,390 490,401 1.04 17.5
42 48 Miyazaki MEA 502,401 356,771 1.01 18.2
43 66 Tsu MEA 499,709 280,045 1.05 23.8
44 35 Numazu MEA 497,258 487,606 1.11 22.9
45 56 Toyota MEA 484,352 340,596 1.21 28.3
46 45 Morioka MEA 470,414 382,706 1.10 17.9
47 53 Fukushima MEA 451,044 343,063 1.06 18.0
48 46 Matsumoto MEA 447,802 371,850 1.09 18.5
49 44 Kurume MEA 431,897 384,264 0.98 16.8
50 60 Saga MEA 398,217 304,703 1.12 15.2
51 43 Akita MEA 397,801 384,718 1.08 16.0
52 42 Asahikawa MEA 388,701 394,532 1.01 14.3
53 52 Fuji MEA 387,236 345,720 1.01 18.1
54 68 Nagaoka MEA 356,767 274,394 1.04 15.7
55 51 Iwaki MEA 350,237 347,408 0.97 13.0
56 47 Hitachi MEA 349,111 368,405 1.16 17.2
57 41 Hakodate MEA 340,489 395,403 1.05 12.7
58 - Narita MEA 328,796 - 1.51 16.7
59 75 Okinawa MEA 327,550 236,398 0.95 7.1
60 58 Hachinohe MEA 324,451 331,608 1.08 12.5
61 65 Ogaki MEA 313,740 280,945 1.06 13.0
62 102 Yamaguchi MEA 313,364 147,867 1.02 14.6
63 57 Aomori MEA 310,640 336,677 1.03 12.3
64 61 Sasebo MEA 298,023 304,678 1.02 11.1
65 67 Hirosaki MEA 291,789 278,234 1.11 10.6
66 82 Matsue MEA 284,790 205,031 1.06 11.7
67 - Kamisu McEA 270,079 - 1.16 -
68 49 Shimonoseki MEA 268,517 348,875 0.98 12.1
69 64 Shunan MEA 267,340 295,506 1.08 13.0
70 78 Obihiro MEA 263,344 221,659 1.07 9.9
71 59 Kure MEA 252,891 320,342 0.99 11.0
72 139 Nasushiobara McEA 250,876 100,083 0.92 -
73 87 Miyakonojo MEA 236,290 189,065 1.08 8.5
74 69 Omuta MEA 234,581 254,723 1.08 8.6
75 74 Tottori MEA 232,610 239,972 1.06 8.4
76 76 Ube MEA 232,100 229,729 0.99 10.7
77 70 Yonago MEA 231,746 246,581 1.06 8.1
78 77 Joetsu MEA 230,186 227,947 1.00 9.9
79 - Higashiomi McEA 228,704 - 0.90 -
80 84 Niihama MEA 228,077 196,483 1.04 9.3
81 83 Aizuwakamatsu MEA 223,807 197,672 1.11 9.0
82 108 Komatsu McEA 222,986 141,582 1.01 -
83 - Higashihiroshima MEA 219,333 - 0.98 -
84 86 Oyama MEA 218,354 190,194 1.00 9.7
85 130 Sanjo MEA 215,037 109,386 1.10 9.7
86 - Koga MEA 212,776 - 0.90 9.2
87 80 Ueda McEA 212,314 205,775 1.02 8.8
88 211 Osaki McEA 205,925 65,525 0.95 -
89 72 Kushiro MEA 205,177 242,331 1.00 8.2
90 144 Nakatsu McEA 203,101 97,817 1.05 -
91 122 Suwa McEA 198,475 114,705 1.13 -
92 214 Kakegawa McEA 193,943 64,843 1.04 -
93 85 Ishinomaki MEA 193,051 194,680 1.07 7.9
94 184 Kitakami McEA 191,213 76,633 1.09 -
95 96 Tomakomai MEA 190,477 158,191 1.01 7.4
96 73 Muroran MEA 189,696 241,371 1.20 7.4
97 88 Iizuka McEA 189,195 188,420 1.03 7.2
98 170 Ina McEA 184,305 84,003 0.99 -
99 97 Ise MEA 183,793 157,669 0.96 7.9
100 104 Tsuyama McEA 182,412 144,230 1.03 -

These areas have multiple central cities. Municipal names are as of 2015.

These areas changed their names between 1980 and 2000, as the most populated central cities have changed.

  • Tsuchiura MEA changed to Tsukuba MEA after 1995.
  • Kimitsu MEA changed to Kisarazu MEA after 1990.

See also

References

  1. ^ 経済産業省の地域政策におけるエリア概念について (PDF) (Report) (in Japanese). 2014. p. 3.
  2. ^ Yoshitsugu Kanemoto. "Metropolitan Employment Area (MEA) Data". Center for Spatial Information Science, The University of Tokyo.
  3. ^ Conversion rates - Exchange rates - OECD Data