Of all the non-metropolitan prefectures, those are maybe the only two where it feels ambiguous to me. Or maybe Okayama?
Especially natives’ opinions would be interesting!
Other prefectures where the main city shares the pref.’s name are I think usually unambiguous, depending on the context. i.e. ‘Yamaguchi’ is likely to be referring to the whole prefecture
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Fukuoka = Fukuoka city to me. But I live here so I’m not sure what kind of bias that introduces. Whenever I hear people intending to mention the prefecture they specify whereas city is default.
It really does depend, you’re better off just figuring out through context. With over half of the Japanese prefectures having a capital with the same name…
I think of the city for both of them if not told otherwise explicitly or by context.
city, same with a city and province in my country that share the same name
For people like me who are from Fukuoka or live in Fukuoka, simply saying “Fukuoka” refers to Fukuoka city and its surrounding areas. I believe the term “福岡都市広域圏” mentioned on Wikipedia aligns well with this perception.
Both if genuinely no context. Just like if someone said New York it could be the city or state which has very different lifestyles etc overall. But usually with even vague context its clear if someone is refering to a city or region.
It’s prefecture in almost all case when I say it. Also I always assume it’s prefecture when I hear that, and as far as I can remember, it never caused problem understanding it that way. If I wanted clarification then I always ask.
There are a few saying Fukuoka would generally mean the city but it’s not my case ([as said here](https://www.reddit.com/r/japanese/comments/14ftmhi/when_you_hear_hiroshima_or_fukuoka_do_you_think/jp5hekw/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_content=1&utm_term=1&context=3)).
My way of thinking is that the distinction probably doesn’t matter when it’s not said in that manner, and if so then it’s safer to understand in inclusive ways.
With Hiroshima, I think of the city. Doesn’t even register that it’s a prefecture. Same with the other urban prefectures.