Subprefectures in Hokkaidō

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Administrative divisions of Japan
Prefectural level
Prefectures (都道府県 todōfuken)
Subprefectural level
Subprefectures (支庁 shichō) Districts (郡 gun)
Municipal level
Designated cities (政令指定都市 seirei-shitei-toshi) Core cities (中核市 chūkaku-shi) Special cities (特例市 tokurei-shi) Cities (市 shi) Special wards (Tokyo) (特別区 tokubetsu-ku) Towns (町 chō, machi) Villages (村 son, mura)
Sub-municipal level
Wards (区 ku)

Hokkaidō Prefecture has 14 branch offices called 支庁 (shichō) in Japanese, which is often translated in English as subprefectures. Normally, a subprefecture consists of a few to a dozen cities, towns, and/or villages.

For historical reasons, some older people in Hokkaidō use the subprefecture name suffixed by -kannai in their address.

Contents 1 History of shichō in Hokkaidō 2 List of subprefectures 3 Possible reorganization 3.1 List of planned development bureaus 4 References 5 External links

[edit] History of shichō in Hokkaidō

1897	Nineteen shichō were placed under Hokkaido Agency (an agency of the national government): Sapporo, Hakodate, Kameda, Matsumae, Hiyama, Suttsu, Iwanai, Otaru, Sorachi, Kamikawa, Mashike, Souya, Abashiri, Muroran, Urakawa, Kushiro, Kasai, Nemuro, and Shana.
1899	Sapporo-ku, Hakodate-ku, and Otaru-ku were established as municipalities independent of shichō. Sapporo-shichō and Otaru-shichō were continued with remaining area, but Hakodate-shichō was dissolved. Previous Kameda-shichō was renamed Hokodate-shichō.
1903	Matsumae-shichō was merged with Hakodate-shichō. Shana-shichō was merged with Nemuro-shichō.
1910	Suttsu-shichō, Iwanai-shichō, and Otaru-shichō were merged to form Shiribeshi-shichō.
1914	Asahikawa-ku was established as a municipality independent of Kamikawa-shichō. Mashike-shichō was renamed as Rumoi-shichō.
1918	Muroran-ku was established as a municipality independent of Muroran-shichō.
1920	Kushiro-ku was established as a municipality independent of Kushiro-shichō.
1922	The six ku were restated as shi (cities). Sapporo-shichō was renamed Ishikari-shichō. Hakodate-shichō was renamed Oshima-shichō. Muroran-shichō was renamed Iburi-shichō.
1932	Urakawa-shichō was renamed Hidaka-shichō. Kasai-shichō was renamed Tokachi-shichō.
1947	Hokkaido Agency was abolished and Hokkaidō Prefecture was established. Hokkaidō Prefecture took over shichō.

Today, fourteen shichō effectively cover all of Hokkaidō. Technically, the shichō cover only towns and villages, although some commissioned business is conducted for cities.

[edit] List of subprefectures

Numbers are those of the map above.

No.	Subprefecture	Japanese	Capital	Largest city [1]	Region	Pop. [1]	Area (km²)	Density (/km²) [1]	Municip.	Distr.
11	Abashiri	網走支庁	Abashiri	Kitami	East or North	324,719	10,690.55	30.37	19	4
7	Hidaka	日高支庁	Urakawa	Shinhidaka	Central or South	81,403	4,811.96	16.92	7	6
5	Hiyama	檜山支庁	Esashi	Setana	South	46,999	2,629.88	17.87	7	5
6	Iburi	胆振支庁	Muroran	Tomakomai	Central or South	426,627	3,698.00	115.37	11	4
1	Ishikari	石狩支庁	Sapporo	Sapporo	Central	2,310,001	3,539.86	652.57	8	1
8	Kamikawa	上川支庁	Asahikawa	Asahikawa	North or Central	535,456	9,852.17	54.35	22	5
13	Kushiro	釧路支庁	Kushiro	Kushiro	East	261,883	5,997.38	43.67	8	5
14	Nemuro	根室支庁	Nemuro	Nemuro	East	84,035	3,406.23	24.67	5	3
4	Oshima	渡島支庁	Hakodate	Hakodate	South	449,371	3,936.32	114.16	11	6
9	Rumoi	留萌支庁	Rumoi	Rumoi	North	61,488	4,019.91	15.30	9	4
3	Shiribeshi	後志支庁	Kutchan	Otaru	Central	250,065	4,305.82	58.08	20	9
2	Sorachi	空知支庁	Iwamizawa	Iwamizawa	Central or North	365,563	6,558.22	55.74	25	4
10	Sōya	宗谷支庁	Wakkanai	Wakkanai	North	75,665	4,050.76	18.68	9	5
12	Tokachi	十勝支庁	Obihiro	Obihiro	East	354,147	10,831.24	32.70	19	7

Japan claims the sourethern part of Kuril Islands (Northern Territories), currently administered by Russia, belong to Nemuro Subprefecture. However, the table above excludes these islands' data.

[edit] Possible reorganization

The prefectural government of Hokkaidō planned to reorganize the current 14 subprefectures into 9 development bureaus. Five subprefectures, namely Hidaka, Hiyama, Ishikari, Nemuro, and Rumoi were subject to be cut down. The capital municipalities of these subprefectures opposed the plan, but on June 28 2008, the prefectural council passed the ordinance of the reorganization. ^[2] The change was going to take effect from April 2009.

However, it is now impossible to make the reform on time. The amendment of the Public Offices Election Act was needed to accomplish the reform, but it is not yet done as of March 2009. It is not clear wheter the plan will be really enforced in future. The Liberal Democratic Party is pushing the reform, while the Democratic Party is against it.

[edit] List of planned development bureaus

The general development bureaus (総合振興局, sōgō shinkō-kyoku^?) are equivalent to the current subprefectures, while the development bureaus (振興局, shinkō-kyoku^?) are the branch offices of them.

• Dōō General Development Bureau (道央総合振興局), Iwamizawa, covering Ishikari and Sorachi areas. (Horokanai will belong to Dōhoku General Development Bureau.)
  • Ishikari Development Bureau (石狩振興局), Sapporo, covering Ishikari area
• Shiribeshi General Development Bureau (後志総合振興局), Kutchan, covering Shiribeshi area
• Nittan General Development Bureau (日胆総合振興局), Muroran, covering Iburi and Hidaka areas
  • Hidaka Development Bureau (日高振興局), Urakawa, covering Hidaka area
• Dōnan General Development Bureau (道南総合振興局), Hakodate, covering Oshima and Hiyama areas
  • Hiyama Development Bureau (檜山振興局), Esashi, covering Hiyama area
• Dōhoku General Development Bureau (道北総合振興局), Asahikawa, covering Kamikawa and Rumoi areas
  • Rumoi Development Bureau (留萌振興局), Rumoi, covering Rumoi area. (Horonobe will belong to Sōya General Development Bureau.)
• Sōya General Development Bureau (宗谷総合振興局), Wakkanai, covering Sōya area
• Okhotsk General Development Bureau (オホーツク総合振興局), Abashiri, covering Abashiri area
• Tokachi General Development Bureau (十勝総合振興局), Obihiro, covering Tokachi area
• Dōtō General Development Bureau (道東総合振興局), Kushiro, covering Kushiro and Nemuro areas
  • Nemuro Development Bureau (根室振興局), Nemuro, covering Nemuro area

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• (Japanese) Official websites of the subprefectures
• (Japanese) The map of the new development bureaus, from Pucchi Guide