Japanese dialects

The dialects (方言, hōgen) of the Japanese language fall into two primary clades, Eastern (including modern capital Tokyo) and Western (including old capital Kyoto), with the dialects of Kyushu and Hachijō Island often distinguished as additional branches, the latter perhaps the most divergent of all. Japan with its numerous islands and mountains has the ideal setting for developing many dialects.

The Ryukyuan languages of Okinawa Prefecture and the southern islands of Kagoshima Prefecture form a separate branch of the Japonic family and are completely distinct languages from Japanese. They are not Japanese dialects, although they are often erroneously referred to as such. The Ainu language of Hokkaido is even more distinct, belonging to an entirely different language family.