Special Wards of Tokyo - History

History

The word "special" distinguishes them from the wards (区, ku?) of other major Japanese cities. Before 1943, the wards of Tokyo City were no different from the wards of Osaka or Kyoto. These original wards numbered 15 in 1889. Large areas from five surrounding districts were merged into the city in 1932 and organized in 20 new wards, bringing the total to 35; the expanded city was also referred to as "Greater Tokyo", Dai-Tōkyō (大東京). By this merger, together with smaller ones in 1920 and 1936, Tokyo City came to expand to the current city area. On March 15, 1943 as part of wartime authoritarian tightening of controls Tokyo's local autonomy (elected council and mayor) under the Imperial municipal code was eliminated by the Tōjō cabinet and the Tokyo city government and (Home ministry appointed) prefectural government merged into a single (appointed) prefectural government; the wards were placed under the direct control of the prefecture.

35 wards of the former city were integrated into 22 on March 15, 1947 just before the legal definition of special wards was given by the Local Autonomy Law, enforced on May 3 the same year. The 23rd ward, Nerima, was formed on August 1, 1947 when Itabashi was split again. The postwar reorganization under the US-led occupation authorities democratized the prefectural administrations but did not include the reinstitution of Tokyo City. Seiichirō Yasui, a former Home Ministry bureaucrat and appointed governor, won the first Tokyo gubernatorial election against Daikichirō Tagawa, a former Christian Socialist member of the Imperial Diet, former vice mayor of Tokyo city and advocate of Tokyo city's local autonomy.

Since the 1970s, the special wards of Tokyo have exercised a considerably higher degree of autonomy than the wards in other cities (that unlike Tokyo retained their elected mayors and assemblies) but still less than other municipalities in the country, making them more like independent cities than districts. Each special ward has its own elected mayor (区長, kuchō?) and assembly (区議会, kugikai?). In 2000, the National Diet designated the special wards as local public entities (地方公共団体, chihō kōkyō dantai?), giving them a legal status similar to cities.

The wards vary greatly in area (from 10 to 60 km²) and population (from less than 40,000 to 830,000), and some are expanding as artificial islands are built. Setagaya has the most people, while neighboring Ōta has the largest area.

The total population (census) of the 23 special wards was 8,483,140 as of October 1, 2005, about two-thirds of the population of Tokyo and a quarter of the population of the Greater Tokyo Area. The 23 wards have a population density of 13,800 per square kilometre (35,600 per square mile). As of August 2008, the population was 8,731,434 according to the Japan Statistical Agency.

Special wards do not currently exist outside Tokyo; however, several Osaka area politicians, led by Governor Toru Hashimoto, are backing an Osaka Metropolis plan under which the city of Osaka would be replaced by special wards, consolidating many government functions at the prefectural level and devolving other functions to more localized governments.