Konnichiwa, everybody! Japan has some really cool flags. Most of them have a simple one-color
background with a really neat-looking logo or emblem in the center. And I really wanna
share some of these awesome flag designs with y'all. So, ladies and gentlemen, here are
my top ten favorite flags of Japanese prefectures. Prefectures, by the way, are Japan's main
political division. You know, how the USA has states, Canada has provinces, Russia has
"federal subjects" or whatever, Japan has prefectures. So that's what those are. Anyway,
let's get started. Number 10: Osaka. You can see these four little O's all connected to
each other, and this sort of futuristic-looking symbol is inspired partially by the crest
of Toyotomi Hideyoshi. You know, that conquering guy from the history of Japan. "And then someone
else who works for him kills them. And that guy finishes conquering Japan. And then he
confiscated everybody's swords. And made some rules." You know, that guy. Also, the blue
partially represents the ocean that Osaka Prefecture, y'know, is right by. Number 9:
Shizuoka. That central emblem there both doubles as a map of the prefecture–a kind of stylized
map–as well as a picture of Mount Fuji, which... I think that's really cool. The orange
represents sunlight and passion and unity; and the blue, of course, represents the ocean,
which the prefecture borders, as well as progress and development. Number 8: Ehime. Now, this
one kinda stands out from the rest of the prefectural flags because it doesn't have
a simple one-color background. It actually uses some stripes. A little bit of originality
there. Now, that star-shaped looking thing is the flower of the mikan fruit, or the mandarin
orange fruit, which Ehime is a top producer of. The yellow represents happiness, the green
represents peace, and the white represents simplicity and purity. Number 7: Hyogo. Now,
this is one of the many Japanese prefectural flags that use a Japanese character from their
name as a sort of logo or emblem. This character you see on Hyogo's flag is the kanji character
for the syllable "hyo" in "Hyogo". Now, the Japanese writing system is made of three alphabets.
They're not technically alphabets, but I'm just simplifying 'cause it's complicated.
Three alphabets. There is kanji, which are basically Chinese characters that basically
got stolen into Japanese, and there's also hiragana and katakana. So this kinda means
that there are three different options for writing your prefecture's name down. So some
prefectures use katakana on their flags, some use hiragana, and some–like Hyogo–use
kanji characters. To my knowledge, no prefectural flags use emoji yet, but just give it a few
years. So Hyogo took "hyo", the first syllable, and they wrote it in kanji, and they stylized
it so it kinda looks like an ocean wave kind of thing on their flag, which I think is really
cool. And that represents the fact that there are a bunch of seas that surround the prefecture
of Hyogo. Number 6: Kagoshima. I really like this one because of their emblem in the middle.
It is a stylized map of the southern part of the island of Kyushu, which is where Kagoshima
is located. And that red circle represents Sakurajima, their famous volcano. And they
managed to do it in a way that is really simple and iconic, and almost symmetric. It's awesome.
Number 5 is the prefecture of Tokyo. That purple is a very historic color, and that
central emblem represents the sun emanating energy in all directions, and it also represents
the fact that Tokyo is kinda the center of Japan. Number 4: Ibaraki. It has one of my
favorite logos in the middle there. That emblem is a representation of a blooming rose bud,
which is the prefectural flower. Also, the blue represents the Pacific Ocean. You know,
like they do. Number 3: Kyoto. I'm a big fan of the colors they chose for this flag, as
well as that pretty looking flower in the middle. And that central emblem is a stylized
form of the kanji character for the syllable "kyo" of "Kyoto". Getting exciting. Number
2 is Saitama. Now, you see those 16 comma-looking shapes in a circle? Those are called magatama
beads, which is part of the culture of Japan, and the white background represents friendship
and purity. I really like how the flag of Saitama Prefecture looks kinda similar to
the flag of Japan. I don't know if that's intentional, but it looks cool. And my number
1 favorite Japanese prefectural flag is the flag of the prefecture of Nagano. It's got
an orange background that represents the sun, and an awesome looking logo in white, which
represents snow. And the color and the emblem go together so well. It looks so simple and
it looks so beautiful at the same time. And there are two really neat hidden pictures
inside the emblem of Nagano there. One of them is that you can kinda see the image of
a mountain being reflected in a lake, which I think is really really neat. But also, you
can see the katakana character for the syllable "na", which is the first syllable of Nagano.
And all of that is located in one very simple, beautiful, epic looking emblem in this orange
and white awesome flag. This is my favorite one. It looks awesome! Good job, Nagano. So
those are my top ten prefectural flags of Japan. And I didn't even cover the city flags
of Japan; there are some really cool ones there, too. Look 'em up. And let me know in
the comments what your favorite Japanese flags are, and thank you guys for watching. Sayonara.
Stay awesome. Bye.