Subprefectures of Japan
Administrative divisions of Japan |
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Prefectural |
Prefectures |
Sub-prefectural |
Municipal |
Sub-municipal |
Subprefecture of Japan (支庁, shichō) are a Japanese form of self-government which focuses on local issues below the prefectural level. It acts as part of the greater administration of the state and as part of a self-government system.[1]
History
They were given a definite form in 1878 (Meiji 11).[2]
The Meiji government established the sub-prefecture (郡, -gun) as an administrative unit.[1]
In 1888 (Meiji 21), the sub-prefecture as a form of self-government was officially recognized as more general than civic corporations like cities, towns and villages.[2]
Certain prefectures of Japan are now, or once were, divided into subprefectures. The subprefecture is the jurisdiction surrounding a "branch office" of the prefectural government. Normally, the area of a subprefecture consists of a few to a dozen cities, towns, and/or villages. Subprefectures are formed to provide services of the prefectural government in geographically remote areas. They are usually not used in postal addresses.
Existing subprefectures
- Subprefectures in Hokkaidō
- Kagoshima has two subprefectures, Ōshima and Kumage, located in Amami and Nishinoomote respectively. They cover the islands between Kagoshima and Okinawa.
- Miyazaki contains a single subprefecture, Nishiusuki, a remote mountain district in the northwest corner of the prefecture.
- Tokyo contains four subprefectures that provide administrative services to residents of outlying islands under the Tokyo Metropolitan Government. The four branch offices are located at Hachijō,[3] Miyake,[4] Ogasawara[5] and Ōshima.[6]
- Shimane contains one subprefecture governing the Oki Islands. This is the closest Japanese government office to Liancourt Rocks, a small island group held by South Korea but claimed by Japan.
- Shinjo, Yonezawa and Shonai plains).
Historical subprefectures
- Hyōgo, another geographically large prefecture, was divided into ten subprefectures, but these are now known as citizen's bureaus (県民局, kenmin-kyoku).
- Chiba was divided into five subprefectures until 2003, when the branch offices were renamed citizens' centers (県民センター, kenmin-sentā).
- Nagasaki had three subprefectures that provide services to the outlying islands of Tsushima, Iki and Gotō. They were replaced by Regional Offices and then by District Offices.
- Miyakojima and Ishigaki respectively. These offices provided prefectural government services to the isolated archipelagos surrounding both islands. They were abolished in March 2009 and duties taken over by the governments of Miyakojima City, Miyako District, Ishigaki City, and Yaeyama District.
In addition, in 1907 Japan formed Karafuto Prefecture to govern the island of Sakhalin. Karafuto was divided into four subprefectures: Toyohara (in present-day Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk), Maoka (in present-day Kholmsk), Esutoru (in present-day Uglegorsk) and Shikuka (in present-day Makarov).
A number of islands gained by Japan in the
See also
References
- ^ a b Imperial Japanese Commission to the Louisiana Purchase Exposition. (1903). Japan in the beginning of the 20th century, p. 80.
- ^ a b Imperial Japanese Commission, p. 81.
- ^ Favro, S. (2010). Island Sustainability, p. 195 citing Tokyo Metropolitan Government, Outline of Hachijo Subprefecture, 2009.
- ^ Favro, p. 195 citing Tokyo Metropolitan Government, Outline of Miyake Subprefecture, 2009.
- ^ Yong Hong, Seoung. (2009). Maritime Boundary Disputes, Settlement Processes, and the Law of the Sea, p. 148.
- ^ Favro, p. 195 citing Tokyo Metropolitan Government, Outline of Oshima Subprefecture, 2009.
- ^ Kratoska, Paul H. (2006). Asian Labor in the Wartime Japanese Empire, p. 102.
- ^ Morris, Andrew. (2010). Colonial Project, National Game: A History of Baseball in Taiwan, p. 17.