Wakayama Prefecture

Wakayama Prefecture sits on the southwestern coast of the Kii Peninsula in the Kansai region of Honshu. As of February 2025, its population is 876,030, spread across 4,724 square kilometers. The capital and largest city is Wakayama, with other major cities including Tanabe, Hashimoto, and Kinokawa. To the north lies Osaka Prefecture, while Mie and Nara Prefectures border it to the northeast. Across the Kii Channel, which connects the Pacific Ocean and the Seto Inland Sea, is Tokushima Prefecture on the island of Shikoku. The area now known as Wakayama mostly corresponds to the western part of the historic province of Kii.

A devastating flood disaster struck on July 17–18, 1953, when torrential rain caused levee collapses, river flooding, and landslides. The official government report recorded 1,015 deaths, 5,709 injuries, and 7,115 houses lost.

As of March 31, 2020, 13 percent of the prefecture’s land was designated as Natural Parks. These include the Setonaikai and Yoshino-Kumano National Parks; the Kongō-Ikoma-Kisen and Kōya-Ryūjin Quasi-National Parks; and thirteen Prefectural Natural Parks, such as Enju Kaigan, Hatenashi Sanmyaku, and Kōyasanchō Ishimichi-Tamagawakyō.

The prefecture has nine cities and numerous towns and villages organized into districts. Since 1996, the population has been steadily declining. From 2010 onward, Wakayama became the only prefecture in the Kansai region with fewer than one million residents. In 2017, it ranked 40th in Japan by population, with 944,320 people. By the 2020 census, nearly 32 percent of the population was over 65—the highest proportion in Japan and among the highest for any subnational region worldwide.

Governor Shūhei Kishimoto was elected on November 27, 2022.

Mount Kōya, located in Ito District, serves as the headquarters of the Shingon sect of Japanese Buddhism. It houses one of the earliest Japanese-style Buddhist temples in the country and remains a pilgrimage site and a growing tourist destination, known for its ancient temples surrounded by towering cedar trees. The Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range stretch for miles across the prefecture and were designated Japan’s 11th UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Kumano Shrines lie at the southern tip of the prefecture, and the four islands of Tomogashima are also part of Wakayama.

Wakayama leads Japan in orange production. Its own brand, the Arida Orange, comes from Arida District, where oranges have been grown for over 400 years. This district yields about half of the prefecture’s orange crops, and Arida Oranges account for roughly 10 percent of Japan’s domestic orange production. The prefecture also ranks first in the production of Chinese flowering plum (ume). As of 2016, Wakayama supplied about 70 percent of Japan’s domestic ume.

Wakayama has friendship and sister relationships with six places: Florida (United States), Galicia (Spain), Pyrénées-Orientales (France), Shandong (China), Sichuan (China), and Sinaloa (Mexico).

Tourism draws visitors to hot springs such as Nanki-Shirahama Onsen, Kawayu Onsen, and Yunomine Onsen.

Transportation options include rail lines operated by JR Central, JR West, Kishu Railway, and Nankai, as well as the Wakayama Electric Railway. Major expressways include the Hanwa, Keinawa, Nachi Katsuura Road, and Yuasa Gobo Road. National highways include Routes 24, 26, 42, 168, 169, 311, 370, 371, and 424. A ferry connects Wakayama to Tokushima. Nanki Shirahama Airport serves the prefecture, though many travelers also use Kansai International Airport in neighboring Osaka Prefecture for more domestic and international destinations.

Higher education institutions include Kinki University, Koyasan University, Wakayama Medical University, and Wakayama University.