A prefectural capital is a city where a prefectural government and assembly is located.
In Japan, a prefectural capital is officially called todōfukenchō shozaichi (都道府県庁所在地, "seat of a prefectural government", singular: 都庁所在地,tochō shozaichi in the [Tōkyō]-to, 道庁所在地, dōchō shozaichi in the [Hokkai]-dō, 府庁所在地, fuchō shozaichi in -fu, 県庁所在地, kenchō shozaichi in -ken), but the term kento (県都, "prefectural capital") is also used (dōto (道都, in the -dō, but never "futo" or "toto")).
Notes: ¹ As of 1 May 2008[update] In most cases, a city that shares a name with its prefecture is a prefectural capital.
However, there are some municipalities that are not capitals.
Those in italics are prefectural capitals, or metropolitan areas of them.