Special cities of Japan

(Circle click-able)

■ ― Designated cities

■ ― Core cities

■ ― Special cities

A special city (特例市, Tokureishi) of Japan is a city with a population of at least 200,000, and is delegated functions normally carried out by prefectural governments. Those functions are a subset of the ones delegated to a core city.

This category was established by the Local Autonomy Law, article 252 clause 26. They are designated by the Cabinet after a request by the city council and the prefectural assembly.

Because the level of autonomy delegated to special cities are similar to core cities, after consultation with local governments, the category of special cities was abolished in the revision of the Local Autonomy Act enacted on April 1, 2015, and cities with a population of at least 200,000 may apply to be directly promoted to core city status. Special cities which have not been promoted may still retain its autonomy, and are called special cities at enforcement (施行時特例市, Shikōji Tokurei shi). As a special case, within 5 years of the abolishment of the category of special cities, i.e. before April 1, 2020, special cities with a population under 200,000 may also apply to be promoted to core city status.^[1]

The special cities are not the same as the special wards of Tokyo.

List of special cities

As of 1 April 2018, 31 cities have been designated special cities:

Former special cities now core or designated cities

Cities that meet requirements but are not yet designated

The following cities have the population of more than 200,000 people but have not yet been designated (Scheduled to become a special city are not in this list)

See also

• Administrative division
• Urban area

References

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 special 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)