Prefectures of Japan - These are the
country's 47 sub-national jurisdictions: one "metropolis" (都
to), Tokyo; one "circuit" (道 dō), Hokkaidō; two urban
prefectures (府 fu), Osaka and Kyoto; and 43 other
prefectures (県 ken). In Japanese, they are commonly referred
to as todōfuken (都道府県). Prefectures are governmental bodies
larger than cities, towns, and villages. Each prefecture is
led by a directly elected governor and a single-chamber
parliament.
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 will reduce the number of sub-prefecture
administrative regions, and is expected to cut
administrative costs. 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. As of December 2007, no reorganization
has taken place.
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). Hokkaidō has 14
subprefectures and those 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.
Information source: “Prefectures of Japan.” wikipedia.org.
Article date: 21 Feb. 2008. Retrieved: Wikipedia. 2 Mar.
2008 <Prefectures of Japan>. |
