A is a subdivision of the cities of
Japan that are large enough to have been
designated by government ordinance.
“Statistical Handbook of Japan 2008” by Statistics Bureau, Japan
Chapter 17: Government System (Retrieved on July 4, 2009) Wards are used to subdivide each city designated by government ordinance
A , also known as a or , is a Japanese city that has a population greater than 500,000 and has been designated as such by order of the Cabinet of Japan under Article 252, Section 19, of the Local Autonomy Law.
Designated cities are delegate ...
("designated city"). The 23 special wards of Tokyo Metropolis
Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...
have a municipal
A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate.
The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...
status, and are not the same as other entities referred to as ''ku'', although their predecessors were.
Wards are local
Local may refer to:
Geography and transportation
* Local (train), a train serving local traffic demand
* Local, Missouri, a community in the United States
* Local government, a form of public administration, usually the lowest tier of administrat ...
entities directly controlled by the municipal government. They handle administrative functions such as ''koseki
A or family register is a Japanese family registry. Japanese law requires all Japanese households (basically defined as married couples and their unmarried children) to make notifications of their vital records (such as births, adoptions, dea ...
'' registration, health insurance, and property taxation
A tax is a compulsory financial charge or some other type of levy imposed on a taxpayer (an individual or legal entity) by a governmental organization in order to fund government spending and various public expenditures (regional, local, o ...
. Many wards have affiliated residents' organizations for a number of tasks, although these do not have any legal authority.
List of wards
Special wards of Tokyo
The special wards of Tokyo
are a special form of municipalities in Japan under the 1947 Local Autonomy Law. They are city-level wards: primary subdivisions of a prefecture with municipal autonomy largely comparable to other forms of municipalities.
Although the auton ...
are not normal wards in the usual sense of the term, but instead an administrative unit governed similar to cities
A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...
.
See also
*District (China)
The term ''district'', in the context of China, is used to refer to several unrelated political divisions in both ancient and modern China.
In the modern context, district (), formally city-governed district, city-controlled district, or mu ...
, the original use of the ''ku'' kanji, still in use in Mainland China
"Mainland China" is a geopolitical term defined as the territory governed by the People's Republic of China (including islands like Hainan or Chongming), excluding dependent territories of the PRC, and other territories within Greater China. ...
*Administrative districts of South Korea
South Korea is made up of 17 first-tier administrative divisions: 6 List of special cities of South Korea#Position in hierarchy and types, metropolitan cities (''gwangyeoksi'' ), 1 List of special cities of South Korea, special city (''teukbyeol ...
, also pronounced ''gu''
*District (Taiwan)
Districts are administrative subdivisions of the Republic of China (Taiwan)'s special municipalities of the second level and provincial cities of the third level formerly under its provinces. There are two types of district in the administrativ ...
, same use of the ''ku'' in administrative divisions in the ROC Free Area
References
{{Asia topic, Wards of
Subdivisions of Japan