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An Outline of in

The Legal Status of Local Government

Local government in Japan Accordingly, a number of has its basis in the ’s were enacted concerning local gov- , adopted in 1946, ernment, but the core legislation establishing the age of “local gov- for dealing with its organization ernment,” providing a legal basis and management is the Local for local government and recogniz- Government . ing the system of local government The provisions of the Local as part of the Constitutional Government Law deal mainly with system. residents’ affairs, elected councils, Under the heading “Local and their executive bodies—all Government,” Chapter 8 of the that which forms the core of local Constitution contains the follow- government. The Law also defines ing four Articles: the status of local governments, including their relationship with • Opening with a declaration of government as as (Extract) respect for local government with other local governments, and CHAPTER VIII LOCAL GOVERNMENT and its principles; has legal provisions for their finan- Article 92. Regulations concerning organization and operations of • Providing that heads of local cial affairs and other important local governments shall be fixed by law in accordance with the principle governments and members of administrative matters. of local government. assemblies be elected by direct As such, local government Article 93. The local governments shall establish assemblies as their public elections; is clearly defined in Japan’s deliberative organs, in accordance with law. • Stating clearly that local gov- Constitution and other national The chief executive officers of all local governments, the members ernments should have a broad laws. of their assemblies, and such other local officials as be determined range of authority over a broad by law shall be elected by direct popular vote within their several range of administrative func- communities. tions, and granting local legisla- Article 94. Local governments shall have the right to manage their tive authority within the local property, affairs and administration and to enact their own regulations jurisdiction; within law. • Imposing restrictions the Article 95. A special law, applicable only to one local government, enactment of special legislation cannot be enacted by the Diet without the consent of the majority of applicable only to a given local the voters of the local government concerned, obtained in accordance government. with law. The Basis of Local Gov- The Scale and Number of Local Governments ernment Prefectures and sq km, to , Takayama City (Takayama- The Local Government Law vary widely in terms of population (Kagawa-ken) with a little under shi) in Prefecture covers specifies that the basic units of local and area. Japan’s 47 prefectures 2,000 sq km. about 2,177.67 sq km, compared government shall be the prefectures range in population from the The municipalities exhibit even to Village (Funahashi- and the municipalities. (Tokyo-to) with greater variety. They range from mura) in Prefecture, at Local government in Japan is more than 13 million, to City (Yokohamashi), about 3.47 sq km. based on a system introduced by Prefecture (Tottori-ken) with just with a population around 3.7 The number of prefectures has the national government as part of over 580,000; and in size, from million, to Aogashima Village remained unchanged since the its drive to modernize the country the Region (Hokkaido) (Aogashima-mura) in Tokyo, with system was adopted during the at the end of the last century. At with an area exceeding 80,000 a population of about 170. As for Period (1868~1912). But that time the system reflected stronger national governmental control than that of today; the former practice of centrally ap- Number of municipalities according to prefecture pointed is just one example of how strong the control was. Hokkaido Area Much of that early system has 1. Hokkaido 179 been passed down to the pres- ent, though it has to be said that Tohoku Area local government’s authority has 2. 40 increased substantially since the 3. Iwate 33 early post-war period, despite little Kinki Area 4. Miyagi 35 Kanto Area 5. 25 structural change. 24. Mie 29 8. Ibaraki 44 6. Yamagata 35 25. Shiga 19 9. 26 7. 59 26. 26 10. Gunma 35 27. 43 11. 63 28. Hyogo 41 12. 54 29. 39 13. Tokyo 39 30. 30 14. Kanagawa 33 The Tiers of Local Chubu Area Chugoku Area Government 15. 30 31. Tottori 19 16. Toyama 15 32. Shimane 19 17. Ishikawa 19 In any system of local gov- 33. 27 18. 17 ernment the number of tiers is 34. 23 19. Yamanashi 27 35. 19 usually directly related to such 20. 77 factors as geographical conditions, 21. Gifu 42 population levels, the nature of 22. 35 local administration and the cor- 23. Aichi 54 responding level of centralization. Area In Japan, local government 36. 24 is two-tiered: prefectures serving 37. Kagawa 17 wider areas, and municipalities 38. Ehime 20 39. Kochi 34 providing local services. Kyushu Area In addition, there is a system 40. 60 by which municipalities of a 41. 20 certain size can deal with what is 42. 21 43. 45 generally considered to be pre- Excluding the six villages of the fecture administrative work. By 44. Oita 18 Northern Territories and the 23 special 45. 26 government decree, they are called wards of Metropolitan Tokyo there are 46. 43 1,719 municipalities in Japan. designated cities, core cities or spe- 47. 41 ( 1, 2012) cial case-cities.

Source: 2012 Handbook of Nationwide Municipalities (Regional Development Division, Local Administration Bureau, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications)

2 Prefectural Size and Population

the number of municipalities has post-war period, the number fell Population density 2 2 steadily decreased. from approximately 10,000 to Population Area (km ) (per km ) Since the Meiji Period, there about one-third of that figure. Hokkaido 5,506,419 83,456.87 70.2 have been two major periods of In recent years, in to create Aomori 1,373,339 9,644.54 142.4 municipal mergers. In the “Great a strong basis for decentraliza- Iwate 1,330,147 15,278.89 87.1 Merger of the Meiji Period,” after tion of authority, the merging of Miyagi 2,348,165 7,285.76 322.3 the organization of municipali- municipalities has been promoted Akita 1,085,997 11,636.25 93.3 ties had been implemented, the (known as the “Great Merger of Yamagata 1,168,924 9,323.46 125.4 number of municipalities was re- the Period”). The number Fukushima 2,029,064 13,782.76 147.2 duced from approximately 70,000 of municipalities, which stood at Ibaraki 2,969,770 6,095.72 487.2 to approximately 15,000, and, in 3,229 on 1 1999, has fallen Tochigi 2,007,683 6,408.28 313.3 the “Great Merger of the Showa to 1,719 as of October 2012. Gunma 2,008,068 6,362.33 315.6 Period (1926-1989)” during Saitama 7,194,556 3,798.13 1,894.2 the late 1950s and early 1960s Chiba 6,216,289 5,156.70 1,205.5 Tokyo 13,159,388 2,187.50 6,015.7 Kanagawa 9,048,331 2,415.86 3,745.4 Niigata 2,374,450 12,583.81 188.7 Local Authority Population and Area Toyama 1,093,247 4,247.61 257.4 Ishikawa 1,169,788 4,185.66 279.5 Fukui 806,314 4,189.83 192.4 Population Yamanashi 863,075 4,465.37 193.3 Special Towns and Population Prefectures Population Cities Population Wards Villages Nagano 2,152,449 13,562.23 158.7 10 million 1 million 50,000 Gifu 2,080,773 10,621.17 195.9 1 11 6 and above and above and above Shizuoka 3,765,007 7,780.42 483.9 5 million 500,000 40,000 8 17 7 17 Aichi 7,410,719 5,165.04 1,434.8 and above and above and above Mie 1,854,724 5,777.27 321.0 3 million 300,000 30,000 1 43 5 49 and above and above and above Shiga 1,410,777 4,017.36 351.2 2 million 200,000 20,000 10 39 4 105 Kyoto 2,636,092 4,613.21 571.4 and above and above and above Osaka 8,865,245 1,898.47 4,669.7 1 million 100,000 10,000 19 157 6 283 and above and above and above Hyogo 5,588,133 8,396.13 665.6 Less than 50,000 5,000 Nara 1,400,728 3,691.09 379.5 8 266 244 1 million and above and above Wakayama 1,002,198 4,726.29 212.0 30,000 1,000 178 1 211 Tottori 588,667 3,507.28 167.8 and above and above Shimane 717,397 6,707.95 107.0 Less than Less than 75 26 30,000 1,000 Okayama 1,945,276 7,113.21 273.5 Total 47 Total 786 23 Total 941 Hiroshima 2,860,750 8,479.58 337.4 Yamaguchi 1,451,338 6,113.95 237.4 Area Tokushima 785,491 4,146.67 189.4 Specia Towns and Kagawa 995,842 1,876.53 530.7 Area Prefectures Area Cities Area Wards Villages Ehime 1,431,493 5,678.18 252.1 10,000 1,000 km2 1,000 km2 Kochi 764,456 7,105.16 107.6 km2 and 7 21 8 and above and above above Fukuoka 5,071,968 4,977.24 1,019.0 5,000 km2 500 km2 500 km2 Saga 849,788 2,439.65 348.3 21 120 57 and above and above and above Nagasaki 1,426,779 4,105.33 347.5 3,000 km2 300 km2 300 km2 13 106 85 Kumamoto 1,817,426 7,404.73 245.4 and above and above and above Oita 1,196,529 6,339.71 188.7 2,000 km2 200 km2 200 km2 4 116 114 and above and above and above Miyazaki 1,135,233 7,735.99 146.7 1,000 km2 100 km2 100 km2 Kagoshima 1,706,242 9,188.78 185.7 2 162 188 and above and above and above Okinawa 1,392,818 2,276.15 611.9 Less than 50 km2 and 50 km2 and 119 3 188 Total 128,057,352 377,950.10 343.4 1,000 km2 above above 25 km2 25 km2 As of October 1, 2010 71 6 148 and above and above Less than Less than 71 14 153 25 km2 25 km2 Source: National Population Census 2010 (Statistics Bureau, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications) Total 47 Total 786 23 Total 941 Source: Created from National Population Census 2010 Data (Statistics Bureau, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications)

3 Scope and Financial Structure of Administration Granted to Local Governments

As a basic legal principle, local Local government expendi- spending levels is three fifths local provision are nearly governments in Japan, both prefec- ture is extremely high, with its to two fifths national. shared among different levels of ture and municipal, are uniformly combined expenditure in Japan The Local Government Law government. granted comprehensive powers to equaling that of the national gov- divides the responsibility for In recent years, in order to allow them to fulfill, according ernment’s general accounts. providing services to Japan’s promote structural reform to to the characteristics of their local National government raises citizens between prefectures and encourage regional autonomy, area, roles which are necessary to three fifths of all revenues to municipalities. Prefectures, in the the so-called “Trinity Reforms,” serve their local communities. local governments’ two fifths. main, provide regional services. whereby the financial relationship Furthermore, a local govern- Nevertheless, because of the Municipalities provide direct local between national government and ment’s range of functions is large-scale financial transfers from services. prefectures and municipal govern- extremely broad, and it is no central to local government in However, in reality, the alloca- ments—the reform of national exaggeration to say that a local gov- the form of the local allocation tion of government administration subsidies, the revision of ernment’s responsibilities cover all tax, the local transfer tax and na- among national, prefecture and tax resource distribution, includ- aspects of the country’s domestic tional treasury disbursements, the municipal governments is not ing the transfer of tax sources, and life other than , national ratio of national government to always clear. Rather, adminis- the reform of the local allocation security, trial and prosecution. the combined local government trative functions for any one tax—have been re-examined.

Distribution of Financial Resources Between the National and Local Governments (FY2010)

Taxation (total: ¥77.4 trillion)

National taxes Local taxes National government: (¥42.3 trillion) (¥35.1 trillion) local government 54.7% 45.3% 55:45

National treasury expenditure National expenditure Local allocation tax, etc. Local expenditure (net budget) (net budget) National:local ¥66.2 trillion ¥93.9 trillion 41:59 41.3% 58.7%

Return through services to the public Total national and local expenditure (net budget) = 160.1 trillion yen

Source: Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications Website (http://www.soumu.go.jp/english/index.html)

4 Financial Structure of Local Government (FY2010) unit: 100 million yen

Total Revenue Total Expenditure

Fire fighting Labor 17,792 (1.9%) 8,082 (0.9%) Other 187,270 (19.2%) Police Other 32,164 (3.4%) 8,135 (0.7%)

Agriculture, and fishery expenses Local taxes 32,458 (3.4%) Public expenses 343,163 (35.2%) 213,163 (22.5%) Sanitation expenses 58,124 (6.1%)

Commerce and Total industry expenses Total Local bonds 975,115 63,984 (6.8%) 947,750 Education 129,695 (13.3%) (100.0%) (100.0%) expenses 164,467 General administration (17.4%) expenses 99,998 (10.6%)

National treasury Civil engineering Public debt payments disbursements Local allocation tax work expenses 129,791 (13.7%) 143,052 (14.7%) 171,936 (17.6%) 119,592 (12.6%)

Source: Status of Local Government Finance 2012 (Source : Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications)

Local Tax Revenue Composition (FY2010) unit: 100 million yen

Prefectural Taxes Municipal Taxes

Prefectural Automobile tobacco tax acquisition tax Other taxes 2,561 (1.8%) 1,916 (1.4%) 5,372 (2.6%)

Other taxes Municipal Real property 1,109 (0.9%) acquisition tax tobacco tax 3,789 (2.7%) 7,876 (3.9%) Prefectural City planning tax residents tax Light-oil 12,555 (6.2%) Fixed asset tax delivery tax 54,767 (39.0%) 89,613 (44.2%) 9,175 (6.5%)

Automobile tax 16,155 (11.5%) Total Total 140,262 202,901 (100.0%) (100.0%)

Local consumption tax Enterprise tax Municipal 26,419 (18.8%) 24,371 (17.4%) residents tax 87,485 (43.1%)

Source: Status of Local Government Finance March 2012 (Source : Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications) 5 Prefecture Revenue and Expenditure Local Government Organization

An ordinary local government councillors are directly elected, Prefecture Revenue Expenditure consists of an executive branch and functions on the principle of Hokkaido 2,570,659 2,564,328 and a legislature. The legislature a separation of powers and internal Aomori 743,010 727,316 (the elected council) determines checks and balances to ensure Iwate 731,181 688,285 budgets, enacts local legislation democratic local administration. Miyagi 856,381 817,486 and makes decisions on its poli- To prevent the over-concen- Akita 659,031 648,925 cies. It includes the prefectural or tration of power in one place, the Yamagata 591,484 580,464 municipal assembly. executive branch also includes a Fukushima 858,468 826,406 The executive branch imple- number of administrative commit- Ibaraki 1,067,310 1,057,229 ments the policies decided by tees independent of the Tochigi 797,408 774,338 the legislature. It includes gover- or mayor, for example, boards of Gunma 814,043 800,398 nors, mayors and their executive education, or public safety, and Saitama 1,659,517 1,647,799 committees. election committees. These com- Chiba 1,611,004 1,590,676 Local government in Japan is mittees are wholly responsible for Tokyo 6,170,701 6,012,273 based on the , the management of their respective Kanagawa 1,879,312 1,863,346 where governors, mayors, and functions. Niigata 1,103,793 1,076,338 Toyama 575,387 552,819 Ishikawa 543,309 532,413 Organization of Local Public Entities Fukui 504,267 495,635 Yamanashi 499,459 472,744 • Petition for re-decision Nagano 883,612 866,315 • Dissolution of council Gifu 768,838 749,962 Mayor Governor Council Shizuoka 1,141,769 1,123,935 • Decision of no confidence Aichi 2,166,393 2,149,964 Mie 698,747 674,922 • Appointment Shiga 519,174 512,253 Kyoto 893,582 886,713 Vice governor, Osaka 3,681,931 3,641,845 Vice mayor, • Appointment Hyogo 2,235,045 2,221,660 Accounting controller Nara 480,976 469,086 • Petition for • Administrative committee Wakayama 550,916 539,469 special audit • Audit committee Tottori 371,512 355,848 • Public safety committee Shimane 566,854 547,088 • Personnel committee • Election administration • Election Okayama 728,511 716,989 committee Hiroshima 961,534 945,113 • Election Yamaguchi 707,878 693,920 • Petition for dissolution of council • Petition for Tokushima 494,704 465,808 • Petition for dismissal of councilors or chairman improvement of elimination Kagawa 440,456 426,767 • Election of ordinance Ehime 630,190 618,357 • Perdition for dismissal of Kochi 451,258 431,835 officers Fukuoka 1,610,614 1,584,229 Saga 470,394 451,023 Residents Nagasaki 717,187 693,582 Kumamoto 835,842 808,369 Oita 592,458 578,032 Miyazaki 762,288 748,330 Kagoshima 820,406 796,744 Okinawa 647,317 632,157 Total 50,066,112 49,059,536 (unit: million yen)

Local Government Financial Statistics - Annual Report 2010 (Source : Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications)

6 Governors and Mayors

The representative of the government. budgets, to introduce bills, and to the administrative committees. It executive branch of local govern- They are responsible for ensur- appoint members of administra- does not mean, however, that they ment is either a governor or a ing the overall consistency of the tive committees such as the board personally carry out all these broad mayor (governor in the case of a local government’s services and of education and public safety functions. prefecture, mayor in the case of a functions, and are authorized to committee, as well as vice gover- To assist them in actual ex- ). represent the authority externally. nors, deputy mayors, and other ecution, there are vice governors Governors and mayors are Governors and mayors thus officials of their respective local (deputy mayors for municipalities) directly elected to serve four-year exercise general control over other governments. and a chief accountant, and a large terms. They are not permitted to executive organs such as adminis- In addition to these powers, number of divisions, departments simultaneously serve as members trative committees. governors and mayors are respon- and sections, carrying out their of the Diet or local councillors, or Important powers given to sible for the execution of all affairs respective assigned duties. to be regular officials. They cannot local chief executives include of the local government excluding act as contractors to the local rights to enact regulations, to draft those of the elected council and

Organization of a Typical Prefecture Organization of a Typical Municipality

General Affairs General Affairs Department Department

Taxation Division Planning Department Governor Deputy Governor Mayor Deputy Mayor Living and Citizen’s Affairs Environment Division Department Commerce and Health and Welfare Division Department Board of Education Board of Education Division Industry, Commerce Head of the boards and Labor Head of the boards of education of education Department Health and Welfare Election Election Division Administration Agriculture, Forestry Administration Commission Commission and Fisheries Personnel Department Personnel Division Commission Commission (Equity Commission) Public Safety Public Works Fire Department Commission Department Agricultural Headquarters Police Commission Commissioner Chief Accountant Account Department Fixed Assets Assessment Chief Accountant Accounts Division Local Labor Examination Relations Board Commission Public Enterprise Public Enterprise Enterprise Bureau Enterprise Bureau Auditor Manager Auditor Manager

The Elected Council

Consisting of directly elected To qualify for election as a roll. Once elected, their term in enact bylaws, and the maximum councillors, the council is the body councillor, candidates must be office is four years. number is fixed under stipulations that decides the policies of the Japanese nationals, at least 25 years Concerning the number of in the Local Government Law. local government. old, and be on the local electoral councillors, local governments

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