Found a wiki page that defines and lists all of the prefectures in Japan:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prefectures_of_Japan

Links from that page explain what -shi and -machi are, among other things.

I went to Ise in April, so am now sure that I have been to Mie-ken. There are 47 prefectures. I have NOT traveled in the following prefectures:
Aomori
Niigata
Yamanashi
Wakayama
Tokushima
Kochi
Miyazaki

Ibaraki is not on the list because I believe that the Tohoku shinkansen travels via Koga, in the westernmost tip of the prefecture (though it doesn't stop there). So, I've traveled to/through 40 of 47 prefectures.

Anybody else out there keeping count of the number of prefectures they've been to?

oops, forgot Okinawa, haven't been there, so been to 39 of 47

mrw, you are definitely a "stats" guy, and this is no doubt what helps you win at the racetrack. I once worked for a stats oriented person, and after a few yrs. of hearing him ask me repeatedly about "what are the numbers????", I found out he was GC of MLB for many yrs, and it all made sense.

And I have no idea how many perfectures I have been to, but probably not very many. After the trip next yr. I should be able to add a few more though. I wonder which ones they will be.

BTW, could you devise one trip that would cover all the perfectures you have not been to in 10 days? That sounds like a good challenge for you!

No I don't keep count, nor do I keep count of the number of countries I have been to, and having lived, worked and travelled overseas since 1989 its got to be a big number. But for me, its about the journey, not the (number) of destination(s)....

ok, a distant 15, but counting. been to niigata, lovely place in autumn, great rice and water, so you know what that means. of course aomori, great juicy apples,(they sell for $2.50 each here in hi).

I am now really curious and will try to name and tally my humble ones up. This is a good geography lesson. I don't think my son has learned this and he is finishing his second yr of Japanese. So i will know something he can learn, always a good thing since of couirse he always knows more about everything than Mom could ever know.

You got it, emd. I thought of it more as a geography thing (puzzle, problem) and not a numbers thing (however I was a statistician at the census bureau a long time ago, so maybe it is the numbers).

15 is p.d. good, and those apples are good enough reason to go to Aomori.

8 in two trips...hope for more next year.

ht, you are the youngest nisei i know. do you know where your mom is from? she still must have relatives in japan. what a great treat it would be to go visit them in the future.

k: I guess I am technically a sansei as my mother was conceived in Japan but born 8 days after the boat landed in hawaii in 1916. The family was from outside of Tokyo but I don't know if we still have relatives there. I should find out!