High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Osaka Prefecture is a prefecture located in the Kansai region on Honsh?, the main island of Japan. The capital is the city of Osaka. It is the center of Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto area. Osaka Prefecture was created in 1868, at the very beginning of the Meiji era. On September 1, 1956, the city of Osaka was promoted to a city designated by government ordinance and thereby divided into 24 wards. In 2000, Fusae Ota became Japan's first female governor when she replaced Knock Yokoyama, who resigned after prosecution for sexual harassment. On April 1, 2006: the city of Sakai was promoted to a city designated by government ordinance and thereby divided into seven wards. In 2008, Toru Hashimoto, previously famous as a counselor on television, was elected at age 38 as the youngest governor in Japan.