Who runs local government in Japan?
Japan has two levels of local government, both directly elected: 47 prefectures and about 1,720 municipalities (cities, towns and villages), plus Tokyo's 23 special wards. Governors and mayors are elected by voters separately from their assemblies, a 'two-representative' system written into the 1947 Constitution. Below the municipality, hundreds of thousands of voluntary neighbourhood associations (*chonaikai* or *jichikai*) do much everyday community work, though they are private bodies, not part of government.
Japan · Unitary constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system · Eastern Asia
The levels of government below the nation
| Level | How it is chosen | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Prefectures (47: 1 to, 1 do, 2 fu, 43 ken) | Governor (chiji) and prefectural assembly both directly elected for four years | Police, upper secondary schools, regional planning, hospitals, support to municipalities. |
| Municipalities (about 1,720 shi, cho, son) and Tokyo's 23 special wards | Mayor and municipal assembly both directly elected for four years | Primary and lower secondary schools, welfare, waste, water, residents' registers, disaster response. Large 'designated cities' (20) take on prefectural tasks and are divided into administrative wards whose heads are officials, not elected. |
Three questions about local power in Japan
Are local leaders elected?
Governors, mayors and all assembly members are directly elected; ward heads in designated cities and municipal staff are appointed. Neighbourhood association officers are chosen by members.
Which laws set up local government?
Prefectures and municipalities are formal under Chapter VIII of the Constitution and the Local Autonomy Act; neighbourhood associations are private voluntary bodies, though some hold legal personality.
Who are local leaders accountable to?
Voters, including through direct demands: with signatures from about one-third of voters they can force a recall vote on a mayor, governor or councillor or a vote on dissolving the assembly. Assemblies can pass no-confidence motions; courts and audit committees check spending.
Traditional and customary authority
There is no traditional or customary authority with a legal role. Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples organise festivals and shrine parishioner groups (ujiko), often overlapping with neighbourhood associations, but have no public powers; the Constitution separates religion and the state. The Ainu are recognised as an Indigenous people under a 2019 Act that supports their culture, but there are no Ainu governing institutions.
Community and neighbourhood power
Neighbourhood associations (*chonaikai*, *jichikai*), of which there were about 298,700 in 2013 according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, cover most of the country. Membership is voluntary in law, though in practice most households join. Officers are usually chosen at an annual general meeting or by rotation among households. They distribute municipal notices, organise cleaning, crime-prevention patrols, festivals and disaster drills, and often run voluntary disaster-prevention groups. Under Article 260-2 of the Local Autonomy Act, an association can apply to the mayor to become an 'authorised neighbourhood association' with legal personality so it can own property (about 56,000 had done so by 2022); this gives legal status, not government powers.
Points to know
- Most local elections are held together every four years in the 'unified local elections' in April, most recently in 2023.
- Municipal mergers cut the number of municipalities from about 3,200 in 1999 to about 1,720 by 2010.
- Neighbourhood associations are struggling with ageing members and falling membership, especially in cities.
- Japan holds residents' referendums, including on local issues such as US military bases or nuclear plants, but most are advisory.
Local terms
- Chonaikai / jichikai
- A voluntary neighbourhood association of households.
- Chiji
- The directly elected governor of a prefecture.
- Shi, cho, son
- City, town and village: the three kinds of municipality.
Sources
- Japan's Constitution of 1946 (Chapter VIII, Local Self-Government), Constitute Project, checked 14 October 2026
- The Local Autonomy Law (Law No. 67 of 1947), English text, Japanese Law and History database, Nagoya University, checked 14 October 2026
- Studies on local communities (chiiki komyuniti), incl. survey of authorised neighbourhood associations (March 2024), Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, Japan, checked 14 October 2026
- Materials on neighbourhood associations (298,700 jichikai/chonaikai as of 1 April 2013), Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, Japan, checked 14 October 2026
- Country profile: Japan (subnational government), OECD–UCLG World Observatory on Subnational Government Finance and Investment (SNG-WOFI), checked 14 October 2026
See also: Japan's official statistics and leaders · the 10 levels of power.