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43 of the 47 prefectures are referred to as ''ken'' (県). The Classical Chinese character from which this is derived carries a rural or provincial connotation, and an analogous character is used to refer to the [[counties of China]] and [[counties of Taiwan]].
43 of the 47 prefectures are referred to as ''ken'' (県). The Classical Chinese character from which this is derived carries a rural or provincial connotation, and an analogous character is used to refer to the [[counties of China]] and [[counties of Taiwan]].


===''Fu'' (Osaka/Kyoto)===
===''Fu''===
Osaka and Kyoto Prefectures are referred to as ''fu'' (府). The Classical Chinese character from which this is derived implies a core urban zone of national importance. Before World War II, different laws applied to ''fu'' and ''ken,'' but this distinction was abolished after the war, and the two types of prefecture are now functionally the same.
Osaka and Kyoto Prefectures are referred to as ''fu'' (府). The Classical Chinese character from which this is derived implies a core urban zone of national importance. Before World War II, different laws applied to ''fu'' and ''ken,'' but this distinction was abolished after the war, and the two types of prefecture are now functionally the same.


===''To'' (Tokyo) ===
===''To''===
Tokyo is referred to as ''to'' (都), which is often translated as "metropolis." The Japanese government still translates ''Tōkyō-to'' as "Tokyo Metropolis" in almost all cases, and the government is officially called the "Tokyo Metropolitan Government". However, some people still call ''Tōkyō-to'' "Tokyo Prefecture" in English.
Tokyo is referred to as ''to'' (都), which is often translated as "metropolis." The Japanese government still translates ''Tōkyō-to'' as "Tokyo Metropolis" in almost all cases, and the government is officially called the "Tokyo Metropolitan Government". However, some people still call ''Tōkyō-to'' "Tokyo Prefecture" in English.


Line 43: Line 43:
In Osaka, several prominent politicians led by Governor [[Toru Hashimoto]] are currently proposing an [[Osaka Metropolis plan]], under which the city of [[Osaka]], and possibly other neighboring cities, would be replaced by special wards similar to Tokyo's.
In Osaka, several prominent politicians led by Governor [[Toru Hashimoto]] are currently proposing an [[Osaka Metropolis plan]], under which the city of [[Osaka]], and possibly other neighboring cities, would be replaced by special wards similar to Tokyo's.


=== ''Dō'' (Hokkaido) ===
=== ''Dō'' ===
Hokkaido is referred to as a ''dō'' (道) or [[circuit (political division)|circuit]]. This term was originally used to refer to regions of Japan consisting of several [[Provinces of Japan|provinces]] (e.g. the [[Tōkaidō (region)|Tōkaidō]] east coast region and [[Saikaido|Saikaidō]] west coast region). This was also an historical usage of the character in China.
Hokkaido is referred to as a ''dō'' (道) or [[circuit (political division)|circuit]]. This term was originally used to refer to regions of Japan consisting of several [[Provinces of Japan|provinces]] (e.g. the [[Tōkaidō (region)|Tōkaidō]] east coast region and [[Saikaido|Saikaidō]] west coast region). This was also an historical usage of the character in China.


Revision as of 17:08, 6 December 2012

Prefectures of Japan

The prefectures of Japan are the country's 47 first-order subnational jurisdictions on a state or provincial level: one "metropolis" (都 to), Tokyo; one "circuit"/territory (道 dō), Hokkaidō; two urban prefectures (府 fu), Osaka and Kyoto; and 43 other prefectures (県 ken). Prefectures are governmental bodies larger than cities, towns, and villages. The former provinces of Japan were converted into prefectures in the 1870s.[1]

The chief executive of each prefecture is a directly elected governor (ja:知事, chiji). Ordinances and budgets are enacted by a unicameral (single chamber) assembly (議会, gikai) whose elected members serve four-year terms.

Under the current Local Autonomy Law, each prefecture is further subdivided into cities (市 shi) and districts (郡 gun). Each district is further subdivided into towns (町 chō or machi) and villages (村 son or mura). For example, Hokkaidō has 14 subprefectures which act as branch offices (支庁 shichō) of the prefecture. Some other prefectures also have branch offices, which carry out prefectural administrative functions outside the capital. Tokyo, the capital is a merged city-prefecture, it has features of both cities and prefectures.

Historical background

The origins of the Western term prefecture being used to describe Japanese subdivisions date from 15th century Portuguese contact with Japan, whereby the word prefeitura was used to very roughly describe Japanese fiefdoms, in Portuguese the original meaning was more analogous to municipalities than provinces.

Those fiefs were headed by a local warlord or family, and despite that those fiefs have long since been dismantled, merged, and reorganized numerous times over, and given legislative governance and oversight, the rough translation stuck.

The current system was established by the Meiji government in July 1871 with the abolition of the han system and establishment of the prefecture system (廃藩置県 haihan-chiken). Although there were initially over 300 prefectures, many of them being former han territories, this number was reduced to 72 in the latter part of 1871, and 47 in 1888. The Local Autonomy Law of 1947 gave more political power to prefectures, and installed prefectural governors and parliaments.

In 2003, then-Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi proposed that the government consolidate the current prefectures into about 10 regional states. The plan called for each region to have greater autonomy than existing prefectures. This process would reduce the number of sub-prefecture administrative regions and cut administrative costs.[2] The Japanese government is also considering a plan by which several groups of prefectures would merge, creating a sub-national administrative division system consisting of between nine and thirteen states, and giving these states more local autonomy than the current prefectures enjoy.[3] As of August 2012, no reorganization has been scheduled.

Types of prefectures

In the Japanese language there are four different terms for prefectures. The prefectures are sometimes collectively referred to as to-dō-fu-ken (都道府県) in Japanese, which is a simple combination of the four terms.

Historically, during the Edo period, the Tokugawa shogunate established bugyō-ruled zones (奉行支配地) around the nine largest cities in Japan, and 302 township-ruled zones (郡代支配地) elsewhere. When the Meiji government began to create the prefectural system in 1868, the nine bugyō-ruled zones became fu (府), while the township-ruled zones and the rest of the bugyo-ruled zones became ken (県). Later, in 1871, the government designated Tokyo, Osaka, and Kyoto as fu, and relegated the other fu to the status of ken. During World War II, in 1943, Tokyo became a to, a new type of pseudo-prefecture (see below).

Despite the differences in terminology, there is little functional difference between the four types of prefecture.

Ken

43 of the 47 prefectures are referred to as ken (県). The Classical Chinese character from which this is derived carries a rural or provincial connotation, and an analogous character is used to refer to the counties of China and counties of Taiwan.

Fu

Osaka and Kyoto Prefectures are referred to as fu (府). The Classical Chinese character from which this is derived implies a core urban zone of national importance. Before World War II, different laws applied to fu and ken, but this distinction was abolished after the war, and the two types of prefecture are now functionally the same.

To

Tokyo is referred to as to (都), which is often translated as "metropolis." The Japanese government still translates Tōkyō-to as "Tokyo Metropolis" in almost all cases, and the government is officially called the "Tokyo Metropolitan Government". However, some people still call Tōkyō-to "Tokyo Prefecture" in English.

Following the abolition of the han system, Tōkyō-fu (an urban prefecture like Kyoto and Osaka) encompassed a number of cities, the largest of which was Tokyo City. Tokyo City was divided into 15 wards. In 1943, Tokyo City was abolished, Tōkyō-fu became Tōkyō-to, and Tokyo's wards became the special wards, local authorities falling directly under the prefecture in hierarchy, each with their own elected assemblies (kugikai) and mayors (kuchō). A number of suburban villages and towns of Tokyo City were changed to wards, bringing the total number of special wards to 35. The reason for this reorganization was to consolidate the administration of the area around the capital by eliminating the extra level of authority in Tokyo. The central government wanted to have a greater degree of control over Tokyo due to Japan's deteriorating position in World War II and the possibility of emergency in the metropolis.

After the war, Japan was forced to decentralize Tokyo again, following the general terms of democratization outlined in the Potsdam Declaration. Many of Tokyo's special governmental characteristics disappeared during this time, and the wards took on an increasingly municipal status in the decades following the surrender. Administratively, today's special wards are almost indistinguishable from other municipalities.

The postwar reforms also changed the map of Tokyo significantly. In 1947, the 35 wards were reorganized into the 23 special wards, because many had died in the bombardments during the war, many survivors had left the city, and many men who had been drafted had not returned.

There are some differences in terminology between Tokyo and other prefectures: police and fire departments are called chō (庁) instead of honbu (本部), for instance. However, the only functional difference between Tōkyō-to and other prefectures is that Tokyo administers wards as well as cities. Today, since the special wards have almost the same degree of independence as Japanese cities, the difference in administration between Tokyo and other prefectures is fairly minor (see 23 special wards for details).

In Osaka, several prominent politicians led by Governor Toru Hashimoto are currently proposing an Osaka Metropolis plan, under which the city of Osaka, and possibly other neighboring cities, would be replaced by special wards similar to Tokyo's.

Dō

Hokkaido is referred to as a dō (道) or circuit. This term was originally used to refer to regions of Japan consisting of several provinces (e.g. the Tōkaidō east coast region and Saikaidō west coast region). This was also an historical usage of the character in China.

Hokkaidō, the only remaining dō today, was not one of the original seven dō (it was known as Ezo in the pre-modern era). Its current name is believed to originate from Matsuura Takeshiro, an early Japanese explorer of the island. Since Hokkaidō did not fit into the existing dō classifications, a new dō was created to cover it.

The Meiji government originally classified Hokkaidō as a "Settlement Envoyship" (開拓使 kaitakushi), and later divided the island into three prefectures (Sapporo, Hakodate, and Nemuro). These were consolidated into a single Hokkaidō Department (北海道庁 Hokkaidō-chō) in 1886, at prefectural level but organized more along the lines of a territory. In 1947, the Department was dissolved, and Hokkaidō became a full-fledged prefecture. The -ken suffix was never added to its name, so the -dō suffix came to be understood to mean "prefecture."

When Hokkaidō was incorporated, transportation on the island was still very underdeveloped, so the prefecture was split into several "sub-prefectures" (支庁 shichō) that could fulfill administrative duties of the prefectural government and keep tight control over the developing island. These sub-prefectures still exist today, although they have much less power than they possessed before and during World War II: they now exist primarily to handle paperwork and other bureaucratic functions.

"Hokkaidō Prefecture" is, technically speaking, a redundant term, although it is occasionally used to differentiate the government from the island itself. The government of the prefecture calls itself the "Hokkaidō Government" rather than the "Hokkaidō Prefectural Government".

Lists of prefectures

The different systems of parsing frame the ways in which Japanese prefectures are perceived:

List in Japanese ISO order

The prefectures are also often grouped into nine regions (Chihō). Those regions are not formally specified, they do not have elected officials, nor are they corporate bodies. However, the practice of ordering prefectures based on their geographic region is traditional.[1] This ordering is mirrored in Japan's International Organization for Standardization (ISO) coding.[4] From north to south (numbering in ISO 3166-2:JP order), the prefectures of Japan and their commonly associated regions are:

Hokkaidō

1. Hokkaidō

Tōhoku

2. Aomori
3. Iwate
4. Miyagi
5. Akita
6. Yamagata
7. Fukushima

Kantō

8. Ibaraki
9. Tochigi
10. Gunma
11. Saitama
12. Chiba
13. Tōkyō
14. Kanagawa
Chūbu

15. Niigata
16. Toyama
17. Ishikawa
18. Fukui
19. Yamanashi
20. Nagano
21. Gifu
22. Shizuoka
23. Aichi

Kansai

24. Mie
25. Shiga
26. Kyōto
27. Ōsaka
28. Hyōgo
29. Nara
30. Wakayama

Chūgoku

31. Tottori
32. Shimane
33. Okayama
34. Hiroshima
35. Yamaguchi
Shikoku

36. Tokushima
37. Kagawa
38. Ehime
39. Kōchi

Kyūshū

40. Fukuoka
41. Saga
42. Nagasaki
43. Kumamoto
44. Ōita
45. Miyazaki
46. Kagoshima

Okinawa

47. Okinawa

List in Western alphabetical order

The default alphabetic order in this sortable table can be altered to mirror the traditional Japanese and ISO parsing.
Prefecture Japanese Capital Region Major Island Population¹ Area² Density³ Distr. Municip. ISO
 Aichi 愛知県 Nagoya Chūbu Honshū 7,043,235 5,153.81 1,366 7 54 JP-23
 Akita 秋田県 Akita Tōhoku Honshū 1,189,215 11,612.11 102 6 25 JP-05
 Aomori 青森県 Aomori Tōhoku Honshū 1,475,635 9,606.26 154 8 40 JP-02
 Chiba 千葉県 Chiba Kantō Honshū 5,926,349 5,156.15 1,149 6 54 JP-12
 Ehime 愛媛県 Matsuyama Shikoku Shikoku 1,493,126 5,676.44 263 7 20 JP-38
 Fukui 福井県 Fukui Chūbu Honshū 828,960 4,188.76 198 7 17 JP-18
 Fukuoka 福岡県 Fukuoka Kyūshū Kyūshū 5,015,666 4,971.01 1,009 12 60 JP-40
 Fukushima 福島県 Fukushima Tōhoku Honshū 2,126,998 13,782.54 154 13 59 JP-07
 Gifu 岐阜県 Gifu Chūbu Honshū 2,107,687 10,598.18 199 9 42 JP-21
 Gunma 群馬県 Maebashi Kantō Honshū 2,024,820 6,363.16 318 7 35 JP-10
 Hiroshima 広島県 Hiroshima Chūgoku Honshū 2,878,949 8,476.95 340 5 23 JP-34
 Hokkaido 北海道 Sapporo Hokkaidō Hokkaidō 5,682,950 83,452.47 68 66 180 JP-01
 Hyōgo 兵庫県 Kobe Kansai Honshū 5,550,742 8,392.42 661 8 41 JP-28
 Ibaraki 茨城県 Mito Kantō Honshū 2,985,424 6,095.62 490 7 44 JP-08
 Ishikawa 石川県 Kanazawa Chūbu Honshū 1,180,935 4,185.32 282 5 19 JP-17
 Iwate 岩手県 Morioka Tōhoku Honshū 1,416,198 15,278.51 93 10 33 JP-03
 Kagawa 香川県 Takamatsu Shikoku Shikoku 1,022,843 1,861.70 549 5 17 JP-37
 Kagoshima 鹿児島県 Kagoshima Kyūshū Kyūshū 1,786,214 9,132.42 196 8 43 JP-46
 Kanagawa 神奈川県 Yokohama Kantō Honshū 8,489,932 2,415.42 3,515 6 33 JP-14
Kochi Kōchi 高知県 KochiKōchi Shikoku Shikoku 813,980 7,104.70 115 6 34 JP-39
 Kumamoto 熊本県 Kumamoto Kyūshū Kyūshū 1,859,451 6,908.45 269 9 45 JP-43
 Kyoto 京都府 Kyoto Kansai Honshū 2,644,331 4,612.93 573 6 26 JP-26
 Mie 三重県 Tsu Kansai Honshū 1,857,365 5,760.72 322 7 29 JP-24
 Miyagi 宮城県 Sendai Tōhoku Honshū 2,365,204 7,285.16 325 10 35 JP-04
 Miyazaki 宮崎県 Miyazaki Kyūshū Kyūshū 1,170,023 6,684.67 175 6 26 JP-45
 Nagano 長野県 Nagano Chūbu Honshū 2,214,409 12,598.48 163 14 77 JP-20
 Nagasaki 長崎県 Nagasaki Kyūshū Kyūshū 1,516,536 4,092.80 371 4 21 JP-42
 Nara 奈良県 Nara Kansai Honshū 1,442,862 3,691.09 391 7 39 JP-29
 Niigata 新潟県 Niigata Chūbu Honshū 2,475,724 12,582.37 197 9 30 JP-15
Oita Ōita 大分県 OitaŌita Kyūshū Kyūshū 1,221,128 5,804.24 210 3 18 JP-44
 Okayama 岡山県 Okayama Chūgoku Honshū 1,950,656 7,008.63 278 10 27 JP-33
 Okinawa 沖縄県 Naha Kyūshū Ryukyu Islands 1,318,281 2,271.30 580 5 41 JP-47
 Osaka 大阪府 Osaka Kansai Honshū 8,804,806 1,893.18 4,652 5 43 JP-27
 Saga 佐賀県 Saga Kyūshū Kyūshū 876,664 2,439.23 359 6 20 JP-41
 Saitama 埼玉県 Saitama Kantō Honshū 6,938,004 3,767.09 1,827 8 63 JP-11
 Shiga 滋賀県 Otsu Kansai Honshū 1,342,811 4,017.36 334 3 19 JP-25
 Shimane 島根県 Matsue Chūgoku Honshū 761,499 6,707.32 114 5 19 JP-32
 Shizuoka 静岡県 Shizuoka Chūbu Honshū 3,767,427 7,328.61 484 5 35 JP-22
 Tochigi 栃木県 Utsunomiya Kantō Honshū 2,004,787 6,408.28 313 5 26 JP-09
 Tokushima 徳島県 Tokushima Shikoku Shikoku 823,997 4,145.26 199 8 24 JP-36
 Tokyo 東京都 Shinjuku Kantō Honshū 12,059,237 2,187.08 5,514 1 39 JP-13
 Tottori 鳥取県 Tottori Chūgoku Honshū 613,229 3,507.19 175 5 19 JP-31
 Toyama 富山県 Toyama Chūbu Honshū 1,120,843 4,247.22 264 2 15 JP-16
 Wakayama 和歌山県 Wakayama Kansai Honshū 1,069,839 4,725.55 226 6 30 JP-30
 Yamagata 山形県 Yamagata Tōhoku Honshū 1,244,040 9,323.34 133 8 35 JP-06
 Yamaguchi 山口県 Yamaguchi Chūgoku Honshū 1,528,107 6,110.76 250 4 19 JP-35
 Yamanashi 山梨県 Kofu Chūbu Honshū 888,170 4,465.37 199 5 27 JP-19

Notes: ¹ as of 2000; ² km²; ³ per km²

Former prefectures

Japan

Territories lost after World War II

See also

Administrative divisions
of Japan
Prefectural
Prefectures
Sub-prefectural
Municipal
Sub-municipal

References

  1. ^ a b Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2002). "Provinces and prefectures" in Japan encyclopedia, p. 780.
  2. ^ Mabuchi, Masaru, "Municipal Amalgamation in Japan", World Bank, 2001.
  3. ^ "Doshusei Regional System" National Association for Research Advancement.
  4. ^ See ISO 3166


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