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When I travelled, I found I could translate the regions or cities into names
in English,

  * like in German _Burg_ is "castle" so Hamburg might be "Castle of Ham",
  * Novi Sad in Serbia is "New Farmland",
  * Shanghai translates as "Upon-the-Sea".

Do the regions of Japan translate similar? Are there any references to their
English names, for example "region of blossoms" or such?

By provinces I mean provinces like _Hōki, Inaba, Harima, Bizen, Mimasaka,
Bitchū_ , etc.?
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translation names old-japanese
Are the province names of Japan translatable into English?
Most Chinese and Japanese place names are made of kanji, which is perhaps the
most famous sets of [logographic
characters](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logogram) currently in use.
Therefore most Japanese place names can be translated literally, just as
Shanghai (上海) translates to "upon-the-sea" (上 = up, 海 = sea). For example,
[this page](http://ameblo.jp/makoronpop/entry-11494909763.html) has a list of
the literal "translations" of the 47 Japanese prefectures.
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Given that place names are usually written with _kanji_ (Chinese logographic
characters), it is hard to find a place name that doesn't have a meaning. The
"meaning" of a place name is hard-coded into the way it is written.

Often the characters seem to represent the etymology of a place name (京都
"capital city", 大阪 "large hill", etc.).

However, sometimes the characters may have been selected for their phonetic
value instead. (This is especially true for old names, from a time when
_kanji_ were often used for their phonetic value and less for their meaning.)

For example, in the case of the old province 播磨国 _Harima_ you asked about,
there was more than one way of writing the name: [Wikipedia mentions also 針間国
and 幡麻国](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%92%AD%E7%A3%A8%E5%9B%BD).
[Apparently](http://www.geocities.jp/takenet5177/harimasisou.html), the origin
of the name _Harima_ is unknown. However, with each different way of writing
the name, a different meaning is attached:

  * 播磨 "polish in large movement"
  * 針間 "eye of a needle"
  * 幡麻 "hemp flag"

(I don't know how to accurately translate the names.)

Similarly, 美作国 _Mimasaka no Kuni_ "Land of Artwork" (remember I'm just making
this up) is written with characters that have little to do with the purported
[etymology](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%BE%8E%E4%BD%9C%E5%9B%BD#.E7.94.B1.E6.9D.A5)
of the place name (御坂の国 "Land of the Sacred Hills", 三坂の国 "Land of the Three
Hills", 甘酒の国 "Land of _Amazake_ ").

In general place names may have adopted different characters for some such
reasons. For translation, you have to choose a representation that you use to
translate "the" meaning into English.
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