Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan

Map of cities designated by government ordinance

A city designated by government ordinance (政令指定都市, seirei shitei toshi), also known as a designated city (指定都市, shitei toshi) or government ordinance city (政令市, seirei shi), is a Japanese city that has a population greater than 500,000 and has been designated as such by an order of the cabinet of Japan under Article 252, Section 19 of the Local Autonomy Law.

Overview

Designated cities are delegated many of the functions normally performed by prefectural governments in fields such as public education, social welfare, sanitation, business licensing and urban planning. The city government is generally delegated the various minor administrative functions in each area while the prefectural government retains authority over major decisions. For instance, pharmaceutical retailers and small clinics can be licensed by designated city governments, but pharmacies and hospitals are licensed by prefectural governments.

Designated cities are also required to subdivide themselves into wards (区, ku), each of which has a ward office conducting various administrative functions for the city government, such as koseki and juminhyo resident registration and tax collection. In some cities, ward offices are responsible for business licensing, construction permits and other administrative matters. The structure and authorities of the wards are determined by municipal ordinances.

The 23 special wards of Tokyo are not part of this system, as Tokyo is a prefecture and its wards are effectively independent cities. Although the two largest wards of Tokyo: Setagaya and Nerima, are populous enough to become designated cities, they are not considered to be "cities" within the meaning of the Local Autonomy Law and therefore cannot be designated.

No cities that have been designated by government ordinance have later lost this status.

List of designated cities

Cities designated by government ordinance have been established since 1956.

Name	Japanese	Population (2010)	Date of designation	Region	Prefecture	No. of wards	Divisions
Chiba	千葉市	962,130	1992-04-01	Kantō	Chiba	06	List
Fukuoka	福岡市	1,483,052	1972-04-01	Kyushu	Fukuoka	07	List
Hamamatsu	浜松市	800,912	2007-04-01	Chūbu	Shizuoka	07	List
Hiroshima	広島市	1,174,209	1980-04-01	Chūgoku	Hiroshima	08	List
Kawasaki	川崎市	1,425,678	1972-04-01	Kantō	Kanagawa	07	List
Kitakyushu	北九州市	977,288	1963-04-01	Kyushu	Fukuoka	07	List
Kobe	神戸市	1,544,873	1956-09-01	Kansai	Hyōgo	09	List
Kumamoto	熊本市	731,286	2012-04-01	Kyushu	Kumamoto	05	List
Kyoto	京都市	1,474,473	1956-09-01	Kansai	Kyoto	11	List
Nagoya	名古屋市	2,263,907	1956-09-01	Chūbu	Aichi	16	List
Niigata	新潟市	812,192	2007-04-01	Chūbu	Niigata	08	List
Okayama	岡山市	709,622	2009-04-01	Chūgoku	Okayama	04	List
Osaka	大阪市	2,666,371	1956-09-01	Kansai	Osaka	24	List
Sagamihara	相模原市	717,561	2010-04-01	Kantō	Kanagawa	03	List
Saitama	埼玉市	1,222,910	2003-04-01	Kantō	Saitama	10	List
Sakai	堺市	842,134	2006-04-01	Kansai	Osaka	07	List
Sapporo	札幌市	1,914,434	1972-04-01	Hokkaido	Hokkaido	10	List
Sendai	仙台市	1,045,903	1989-04-01	Tōhoku	Miyagi	05	List
Shizuoka	静岡市	716,328	2005-04-01	Chūbu	Shizuoka	03	List
Yokohama	横浜市	3,689,603	1956-09-01	Kantō	Kanagawa	18	List

Designated city requirements

To become a candidate for designated city status, a city must satisfy the following condition:

• A population greater than 500,000.

Application for designation is made by a city with the approval of both the city and prefectural assemblies.

Cities that meet the requirements but have not yet been nominated

The following cities have populations greater than 500,000 but have not yet been nominated. (Cities planning to apply for core city status are not shown. ※Core Cities; ※※Special Cities)

Funabashi, Chiba※ Kagoshima, Kagoshima※ Himeji, Hyōgo※ Matsuyama, Ehime※

Utsunomiya, Tochigi※ Higashiōsaka, Osaka※ Kawaguchi, Saitama※※ Hachiōji, Tokyo※

History

The first form of the designated city system was enacted under Japan's first formalized local government system in 1878 with the introduction of "wards". Under this system, wards existed in every city: most cities had only one, but the largest cities at the time — Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto — were divided into 15, 4 and 2 wards respectively.

The municipal system enacted in 1889 replaced ward assemblies with city assemblies, but retained ward assemblies in Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto: in these cities, the city had no assembly of its own but was rather governed by the prefectural assembly. In 1898, these cities were allowed to form city assemblies. This ward system was adopted by three more cities prior to World War II: Nagoya (1908), Yokohama (1927) and Kobe (1931). Under a 1911 statute, wards were granted corporate personality and treated as local entities.

Following the war, the 1947 Local Autonomy Law grandfathered in the five subdivided cities (Tokyo having become a prefecture in 1943) as special cities (特別市, tokubetsu shi). This system was replaced by the designated city system when the Local Autonomy Law was amended in 1956.

During the ensuing Japanese economic growth period, the government required designated cities to be forecast to reach a population of 1 million within the near future, but this requirement was dropped in 2005 in order to accommodate several geographically large cities formed by mergers under the Koizumi government.

See also

• Administrative divisions of Japan
• Urban area

External links

• "Japan's Evolving Nested Municipal Hierarchy: The Race for Local Power in the 2000s," by A.J. Jacobs at Urban Studies Research, Vol. 2011 (2011); doi:10.1155/2011/692764
• "Large City System of Japan"; graphic shows designated cities compared with other Japanese city types at p. 1 [PDF 7 of 40]
• "Growth in Second Tier Cities - Urban Policy Lessons from Japan" briefing by CLAIR London on classes of Japanese cities (PDF)
• Text of the Local Government Law (Japanese)