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The story
In a special program aired on Nippon TV on the 3rd, “The World’s Most Useful School: Tonight’s Big Reveal! The 2026 Prefecture Appeal Rankings of All 47 Prefectures SP,” the latest prefecture appeal rankings were announced. Talent Shiori Sato, a Saitama native, was overjoyed that her home prefecture — a perennial last-place finisher for years — finally escaped the bottom spot, exclaiming, “Wait, really? Amazing!” Meanwhile, Saga, Ibaraki, and Gunma rounded out the bottom three. On 5ch threads, comments pointed out that the ranking may just be measuring name recognition as a tourist destination, while others noted the contradiction with Gunma ranking No. 1 for two years running as a desired relocation destination in a separate survey — fueling debate over how reliable the rankings really are.
Ranking table
Shiori Sato thrilled as her hometown of Saitama escapes last place in the prefecture appeal rankings: “Wait? Wait? Amazing!”
Talent Shiori Sato appeared on the Nippon TV special “The World’s Most Useful School: Tonight’s Big Reveal! The 2026 Prefecture Appeal Rankings of All 47 Prefectures SP!” (airing 7:56 p.m.) on the 3rd.
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
Gunma's drop is unnaturally steep too
and that's in just about a year
Yeah, that tracks lol
A private university funded by the prefecture and Takeo City is under fire for failing to fill its enrollment quota
The LDP is split between the incumbent and a newcomer in the gubernatorial race
The governor's facing a personal scandal
Yeah, this isn't good.
soak in hot springs and eat great meat
it's a day trip from Tokyo
honestly, Gunma's pretty great.
Saitama Super Arena
Saitama Stadium
No, Saitama's the one nobody visits.
If you're from the Kanto region, you've definitely relied on Gunma's hot springs — Kusatsu, Ikaho, Shima, Minakami, and more.
meanwhile Tokyo, Kanagawa, Osaka, Fukuoka… there's nothing there…
That's way too much of a stretch…
Honestly, people are getting tired of this ranking anyway.
No wonder Yasuko Matsuyuki doesn't want to publicize she's from there.
Having nothing could actually be its selling point these days.
A place foreigners don't flock to, when everywhere else is packed with tourists — that's kind of the best thing going.
and it was already underrated to begin with.
You shouldn't put on airs.
Welcome to the depths of "Nara-ku" (a pun on Nara and 奈落, "abyss")
it hasn't been featured in one for over 40 years
and there's plenty of material to draw on
like Chika Kuroda (Japan's first female imperial-university student, and the second woman in Japan to earn a doctorate in science)
Saga was actually the setting of 'Oshin,' but the mean mother-in-law character gave it the worst possible image lol
The thing is, you can't do any decent shopping without going to Tokyo.
On top of that, the population just keeps shrinking.
• Ibaraki Prefecture's total population falls below 2.8 million, declining for 23 straight years (Nikkei)
• Gunma Prefecture's population drops by 10,000 in a year, falling below 1.87 million as of March 2026 (Jomo Shimbun)
• Tochigi Prefecture's population is 1,864,220, declining for 21 straight months (Shimotsuke Shimbun Digital)
There's no way Saitama should rank above Gunma.
This ranking's meaningless.
For Saitama too, the northern limit of living without any hassle is around Omiya. Go further toward Utsunomiya or Takasaki and a car ends up being mandatory, so it becomes a case of 'fine as long as you can still drive.'
I did go check out the Shibusawa Eiichi Memorial Museum though.
Probably just Nagatoro and Chichibu lol
Which four prefectures are you even talking about?
It's a business model that trashes prefectures like Gunma, Tochigi, and Ibaraki — places that are actually appealing and gaining relocators — and then rakes in consulting fees under the pretext of 'boosting appeal.'
Gunma's governor got angry about this before, but honestly the national government should be the one getting mad.
Tsukuba's less about tourism and more about being good for raising kids and living there.
Tsuchiura's fireworks really are top-tier, since it's an actual fireworks competition.
Saitama basically counts as northern Kanto too, like during elections lol
We're the leader of northern Kanto. Deep respect for you, Saitama lol
Background and Key Points of This Topic
The prefecture appeal rankings are an annual survey that always sparks discussion, and this time Saitama escaped last place while Saga, Ibaraki, and Gunma landed in the bottom three. The thread split over what “appeal” actually measures — some argued it merely reflects tourist numbers and name recognition, while others pushed back, pointing out that livability and popularity as a relocation destination are a completely separate matter. In fact, a different survey has Gunma ranked No. 1 for desired relocation destinations for two years running, showing that a low ranking here doesn’t necessarily match how people actually evaluate these places — a point that’s easy to overlook. Distrust of the ranking methodology itself also came up, though that’s a view expressed on 5ch rather than a verified fact. The fact that the governors of Ibaraki and Gunma have publicly complained about their rankings before also suggests this survey carries more influence than just being a talking point.
※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Geinou/Sports News+) thread “[TV] ‘Prefecture Appeal Rankings’ Shiori Sato thrilled as Saitama escapes last place: “Amazing!” Bottom 3 are Saga, Ibaraki, and Gunma.”
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