In this article, we'll continue to explore the structure of government in Japan by learning about regional and local governance and the similarities and differences with the national-level government.
Constitution, Art. 92 – 95, provide for delegating authority to local governments. The Diet must establish laws to organize local governments and their operations “in accordance with the principle of local autonomy” (Art. 92), “having the right to manage their property, affairs and administration and to enact their own regulations within law” (Art. 94).
The Constitution provides for deliberative assemblies and administrative executives, both of which are directly elected by popular vote by the citizens (Art. 93).
After the Constitution, the Local Autonomy Act (地方自治法, Act. 67 of 1947) is the primary law in defining the structure and operations of prefectural and municipal governments, and the relationship with the national government (Art. 1) and the division of roles between the local and national governments (Art. 1-2).
In a broad sense “local government” generally refers to sub-national governments, e.g. prefectural and municipal governments. However, it can also be used to focus on municipal government, in contrast to a regional government, depending on the context.
The Local Autonomy Act defines sub-national government entities as local public entities (LPE) (地方公共団体), which are required to be corporations (Art. 2). There are two categories of LPE, ordinary and special, which have a total of five types of government entities (Art. 1-3):
| LPE Category | Entities |
|---|---|
| Ordinary LPE (普通地方公共団体) |
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| Special LPE (特別地方公共団体) |
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Prefectural and municipal governments are OLPEs. OLPEs are entrusted to handle local and other affairs as determined by national law and cabinet orders (Art. 2.2). Art. 2 is important for outlining the division of administrative affairs for prefectural and municipal governments.
Municipal governments handle affairs listed in Art. 2, except what is identified to be handled by prefectural governments (Art. 2.5). Currently there are three types of ordinary municipalities: cities, towns and villages, referred to as 市町村. These are largely determined based on population size, but are designated by the prefectural government; all have the same treatment as OLPEs under the Act.
Prefectural governments are wide-area (regional) LPEs, and handle the affairs that are broad in scope, those that require coordination concerning municipalities, and those that are deemed inappropriate for ordinary municipalities to handle based on their scale and nature (Art. 2.5).
The Act does make provision for larger cities with the appropriate size and resources to be able to handle affairs that would normally be handled by prefectural governments (Art. 2.4). Currently there are two types of large city designations that allow for the assumption of some of the affairs normally administered by prefectural governments.
| City Type | Notes |
|---|---|
| Designated Cities (指定都市) |
(Art. 252–19) ≥ 500,000 and must be designated by Cabinet order. Note that designated cities are required to subdivide into administrative wards (行政区) (Art. 252-20), which are different from special wards. |
| Core Cities (中核市) |
(Art. 252–22) ≥ 300,000 and must be designated by Cabinet order. |
| Special Cities (特例市) |
No longer used. Formerly required 200,000 residents. When this status was abolished in the 2015 revision of the Act, special cities over 200,000 could apply for core city status, others were allowed to continue operating as special cities for a temporary period. |
| City (市) | ≥ 50,000 residents |
| Town (町) | 5,000 – 50,000 residents |
| Village (村) | ≤ 5,000 residents |
OLPEs report to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (総務省), which is the Ministry that administers the Local Autonomy Act.
There are three types of SLPE: special wards, LPE associations, and property districts. In this article, we’re only concerned with special wards (特別区). Currently there are only (23) special wards (特別区) in Japan, which are all in Tokyo.
The special ward concept was rooted in a pre-war administrative system used in Tokyo. It treated these more like administrative districts under a larger metropolitan government. For this reason, when the Local Autonomy Act was enacted in 1947, the special wards had relatively reduced autonomy as compared to municipal LPEs.
In the decades since, however, revisions to the Local Autonomy Act and supplementary laws have been created to bring special wards more in line with the status and ability to administer local affairs like municipal OLPEs.
While there have been periods of reduced autonomy and there were some perceived disadvantages to the system, the intent of special wards, as distinguished from municipal OLPEs, is to streamline functions of local governance to a Metropolitan government, improving administrative efficiency and resources.
There are other population centers in Japan that quality to form special wards, which requires the prefecture to assume the metropolitan government structure. This does allow for improved administrative load-sharing, but currently there are no other special ward areas.
Designated cities are required to divide themselves into administrative wards (行政区) (Art. 252-20), but these are not special wards. Special wards are SLPEs that are city governments on par with municipal OLPEs. Special wards have elected assemblies and chief executive officers (ward mayors).
Administrative wards, on the other hand, are sub-municipal administrative districts. They do not have deliberative assemblies. The ward executive officers are not directly elected but are appointed by the mayor of the designated city as their local agent for administration.
Prefectural governments are wide-area Ordinary LPEs. They have a deliberative assembly and a chief executive officer (governor).
The citizens directly elect members of the prefectural assembly, which is a unicameral (single house) deliberative body. The prefectural assembly is granted authority to enact laws called ordinances (条例), within the scope of the Constitution or national laws (Art. 14, 16, 89 – 138-2). These ordinances only have legal force within that prefecture.
The Local Autonomy Act requires that prefectures have a Governor (知事) as the chief executive officer (Art. 139), directly elected by a popular vote of the citizens. This is a key difference with the national government, where the Prime Minister is a member of and responsible for the Diet. The prefectural governor is not dependent on the prefectural assembly.
The governor can create rules (規則) (Art. 15), which are lawful orders for the enforcement of laws and ordinances. Rules created by governors must be within the scope of law and not contradict the Constitution or other laws. These rules only have legal force within that prefecture.
Municipal governments also have a unicameral deliberative assembly (i.e. city council) that can enact ordinances. These ordinances only have legal force within that municipality.
The Local Autonomy Act requires that municipal governments have mayors as chief executive officers (Art. 139), the head of the administrative branch of municipal government. Like governors, mayors directly elected by the citizens and are independent of the municipal assembly body.
Mayors have the authority to create rules, like prefectural governors, but these only have legal force within that municipality.
Further reading