Western Japan offers calm seas, mountain landscapes and dramatic scenery shaped by volcanoes.
Chugoku faces both the Seto Inland Sea and the Sea of Japan, with historic towns scattered across the region.
Shikoku is surrounded by sea and rich in mountains, rivers and other natural scenery.
Kyushu is known for volcanic landscapes and hot-spring towns filled with rising steam.
The region is also home to long-established traditions, local cultures and distinctive food from the sea and land.
Are there places here that you know or would like to visit one day? What kinds of airports are nearby?
Using data from Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, we mapped passenger traffic at airports in Chugoku, Shikoku and Kyushu.
Why not explore the airports of western Japan on the map?
Chugoku, Shikoku and Kyushu Airport Passenger Map (2019, 2021 & 2024)
Select an airport on the map to view its international, domestic and total passenger traffic, along with its 2024 recovery rate compared with 2019.
Choose “Chugoku, Shikoku & Kyushu” with the region buttons to see the airports in this part of the country. You can also search by airport name.
Look for airports near cities you know or places you would like to visit.
Around 62 Million Passenger Movements in 2024
Airports in Chugoku, Shikoku and Kyushu recorded 61,797,596 passenger movements in 2024.
This is not a count of unique individuals. It is an annual total of arriving and departing passengers, so a round trip is counted twice and frequent travelers are counted each time they use an airport.
Zoom in on the map and compare individual airports as well as the regional total.
What I Noticed While Creating the Map
What struck me was how much the scale of airport traffic varies across Chugoku, Shikoku and Kyushu.
Chugoku and Shikoku appear to have fewer airports with very large passenger volumes than Kyushu.
Fukuoka Airport is particularly prominent in Kyushu, with passenger traffic close in scale to Kansai International Airport. Kagoshima, Kumamoto and Miyazaki airports also handled more passengers than I had imagined.
Why do these differences appear even within western Japan?
As you explore, look beyond passenger numbers to each airport’s location and the transport links around it.
Why not use the map to discover the airports of Chugoku, Shikoku and Kyushu?
Source: Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Airport Management Status Reports (2019, 2021 and 2024)
* Figures cover the calendar years 2019, 2021 and 2024 (January–December).
* Passenger traffic is the total number of arriving and departing passengers.
* For airports shared with the Japan Self-Defense Forces, only civil aviation traffic is included.
* The recovery rate is calculated by dividing 2024 passenger traffic by 2019 passenger traffic.