A or , short for , is a Japanese city that has a population greater than 500,000 and has been designated as such by order of the Cabinet of Japan under Article 252, Section 19, of the Local Autonomy Law.

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, and 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 (broadly equivalent to the boroughs of London or the boroughs of New York City), 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 the 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 so are not designated as such.

No city designated by government ordinance has ever lost that status.

List of designated cities

Cities designated by government ordinance have been established since 1956.

Name JapaneseSkylineFlagEmblemArea (km2)PopulationPopulation density Date of designation Region Prefecture No. of wards Lists of wardsMap Chiba 271.77972,8613,613 1992-04-01 Kantō Chiba 6 List Fukuoka 343.391,579,4504,668 1972-04-01 Kyushu Fukuoka 7 List Hamamatsu 1,558.06795,350506 2007-04-01 Chūbu Shizuoka 7 List Hiroshima 906.681,194,5241,321 1980-04-01 Chūgoku Hiroshima 8 List Kawasaki 143.011,503,69010,765 1972-04-01 Kantō Kanagawa 7 List Kitakyushu 491.95945,5951,901 1963-04-01 Kyushu Fukuoka 7 List Kobe 557.021,526,6392,719 1956-09-01 Kansai Hyōgo 9 List Kumamoto 390.32737,8121,892 2012-04-01 Kyushu Kumamoto 5 List Kyoto 827.831,468,9801,758 1956-09-01 Kansai Kyoto 11 List Nagoya 326.452,283,2897,128 1956-09-01 Chūbu Aichi 16 List Niigata 726.45807,4501,089 2007-04-01 Chūbu Niigata 8 List Okayama 789.95720,841912 2009-04-01 Chūgoku Okayama 4 List Osaka 225.212,727,25512,226 1956-09-01 Kansai Osaka 24 List Sagamihara 328.91720,9862,198 2010-04-01 Kantō Kanagawa 3 List Saitama 217.431,226,6566,072 2003-04-01 Kantō Saitama 10 List Sakai 149.82833,5445,500 2006-04-01 Kansai Osaka 7 List Sapporo 1,121.261,955,1151,750 1972-04-01 Hokkaido Hokkaido 10 List Sendai 786.301,088,6691,389 1989-04-01 Tōhoku Miyagi 5 List Shizuoka 1,411.90697,578486 2005-04-01 Chūbu Shizuoka 3 List Yokohama 437.563,732,6168,588 1956-09-01 Kantō Kanagawa 18 List

Designated city requirements To become a candidate for designated city status, a city must have a population greater than 500,000. An application for designation is made by a city with the approval of both the city and the prefectural assemblies.

The following cities have populations greater than 500,000 but have not yet been nominated. Name JapaneseFlagEmblemArea (km2) Population (2012) Region PrefectureMap Funabashi 85.62 610,492 Kantō Chiba Hachiōji 186.38 579,799 Kantō Tokyo Himeji 534.43 536,218 Kansai Hyōgo Kagoshima 547.58 607,257 Kyushu Kagoshima Kawaguchi 61.95 561,788 Kantō Saitama Matsuyama 429.40 516,823 Shikoku Ehime Utsunomiya 416.85 513,722 Kantō Tochigi

History The first form of the designated city system was enacted under Japan local government system in 1878 with the introduction of "wards." Under that system, wards existed in every city. Most cities had only one ward, but the largest cities at the time (Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto) were divided into 15, four, and two wards, respectively.

The municipal system enacted in 1889 replaced ward assemblies with city assemblies but retained ward assemblies in Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto, which had no assembly of their own but were governed by the prefectural assembly. In 1898, the three cities were allowed to form city assemblies. The 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 a corporate personality and so 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 . The 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 one million within the near future, but the requirement was dropped in 2005 to 700,000 to accommodate several geographically large cities that were formed by mergers, under the government of Junichiro Koizumi.

See also Administrative divisions of Japan Urban area Sub-provincial division (Mainland China)

References

External links Directory of Designated Cities and Mayors (in English) "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