Chugoku region

The Chugoku region (中国地方 Chūgoku-chihō) is located within the western region of Honshu, the largest island of Japan.

It consists of the following prefectures: Hiroshima, Yamaguchi, Shimane, Tottori. Okayama is sometimes included or excluded for some reason.

In Japanese, the word "Chugoku" is also used to mean "China". But "Chugoku" as a region isn't refered alone, but always in a couple of words, "Chugoku chiho" without exceptions it appears in proper nane as "Chugoku Bank" and so on. For Japanese speakers those two usages don't lead to confusion.

• Hiroshima Prefecture: Hiroshima, Itsukushima Shrine
• Yamaguchi Prefecture: Iwakuni, Hofu, Shimonoseki, Hagi
• Shimane Prefecture: Tsuwano, Izumo, Matsue