Local Autonomy Law Totally Explained

Everything about The Local Autonomy Law totally explained

The Local Autonomy Law (地方自治法 Chihō-jichi-hō) of Japan was passed as Law No. 67 on April 17, 1947, an Act of Devolution that established most of Japan's contemporary local government structures, including:

The four types of prefecture (to - do - fu - ken)
Cities, towns, villages, and rural districts
City designated by government ordinance (Japan)
The 23 special wards of Tokyo

The text of the law is lengthy (more than 200 pages in print) and is subject to amendment several times a year.

Local Public Institutions

The classification of local public institutions (LPIs) are:

Ordinary LPIs

Prefectures (to, dō, fu and ken)
Cities, towns, villages

Special LPIs (incomplete)

special wards
unions

The Ordinary LPIs and special wards are regarded as basic local governments.
Unions are consortia of basic LPIs for specific fields (say schools, water etc.)

Heads of the LPIs

Directly elected heads

The heads of the ordinary LPIs and the special wards have strong executive power. They are generically called, specifically for prefectures, and mayors: city's, town's, village's, and in Tokyo special ward's . They are elected by four-yearly direct popular votes (The separate election law defines the electors as Japanese nationals of 20 years or older living in the area of the government for no less than three months). Voting isn't compulsory. They can be recalled by popular initiatives but the prefecture and the national government can't sack them. They have strong executive power. Towards the assembly they prepare budgets, propose local acts and have a veto on local acts just approved by the assembly which can be overridden by two third assembly support. They can desolve the assembly if the assembly passes a motion of no confidence or they think the assembly has no confidence in fact.

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