prefectures
A prefecture (from the Latin ''Praefectura'') is an administrative jurisdiction traditionally governed by an appointed prefect. This can be a regional or local government subdivision in various countries, or a subdivision in certain international ...
of Japan, takes place in the framework of local autonomy that is guaranteed by the
Constitution
A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed.
When these princ ...
and laid out in the
Local Autonomy Law
The , passed by the House of Representatives and the House of Peers on March 28, 1947 and promulgated as Law No. 67 of 1947 on April 17,Ministry of Justice, Japanese Law Translation Database SystemLocal Autonomy Act/ref> is an Act of devolution t ...
. The administration is headed by a governor directly elected by the people every four years in first-past-the-post elections. Legislation, the budget and the approval of personnel appointments, including the (in Kanagawa: three) vice governors, are handled by the prefectural assembly that is directly elected by the people every four years by single-non transferable vote.
Kanagawa is one of the most populous prefectures, second only to neighbouring Tokyo, and the only prefecture to contain three designated cities, among them the prefectural capital of
Yokohama
is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of T ...
, the largest
city
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 ...
of Japan.
National representation
Kanagawa is currently represented by 18 directly elected Representatives and temporarily seven Councillors (four elected every three years) in the national Diet.
For the House of Representatives, it is part of the Southern Kantō proportional representation block along with neighbouring Yamanashi and Chiba in the East. Representatives from Kanagawa in
Liberal Democratic
Liberal democracy is the combination of a liberal political ideology that operates under an indirect democratic form of government. It is characterized by elections between multiple distinct political parties, a separation of powers into di ...
strongholds, the so-called "conservative kingdoms" (''hoshu ōkoku''), include Shinjirō Koizumi, the son of former Prime Minister Jun'ichirō Koizumi (11th district), Tarō Kōno (15th district), the son of former Liberal Democratic Party president
Yōhei Kōno
is a Japanese politician and a former President of the Liberal Democratic Party. He served as Speaker of the House of Representatives from November 2003 until August 2009, when the LDP lost its majority in the 2009 election. Kōno served as sp ...
(17th district until his retirement in 2009) and former Internal Affairs Minister
Yoshihide Suga
is a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) from 2020 to 2021. He had served as Chief Cabinet Secretary during the second administration of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe fro ...
(2nd district). The now ruling
Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to:
*Democratic Party (United States)
Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to:
Active parties Africa
*Botswana Democratic Party
*Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea
*Gabonese Democratic Party
*Demo ...
had lost all districts of Kanagawa in the 2005 "postal" election, but won 14 of the 18 seats in 2009, including the 16th district, a "conservative kingdom" until then, of ex-minister
Yoshiyuki Kamei
was a Japanese politician and member of the House of Representatives of Japan representing Kanagawa Prefecture.
Biography
Yoshiyuki Kamei was born on 30 April 1936. He graduated from Keio University in 1962.
He was Minister of Agricult ...
2012
File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...
, Liberal Democratic Party and Kōmeitō together won 15 seats in Kanagawa, two went to
Your Party
is a Japanese parliamentary caucus consisting of Yoshimi Watanabe and Takashi Tachibana, later Satoshi Hamada after Tachibana forfeited his seat, in the House of Councillors. It was also a political party led by Watanabe from 2009 until its ...
, the only Democrat to hold onto his seat was Hirofumi Ryū in the 9th district.
Under the postwar constitution, Kanagawa initially was represented by four Councillors electing two per election. As most two-member districts, it has often elected one Liberal Democrat and one
Socialist
Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...
. The longest serving Councillor from Kanagawa (1953–1983) was conservative
Kenzō Kōno
Kenzō Kōno ( ja, 河野謙三) (May 14, 1901 – October 16, 1983) was President of the Japan Association of Athletics Federations (1965–1975). He was the younger brother of his predecessor, Ichirō Kōno and the uncle of Yōhei Kōno (Ichiro' ...
, House of Councillors president, brother of LDP faction leader
Ichirō Kōno
was a postwar Japanese politician and a member of the National Diet. In the 1950s and 1960s, he was the head of the powerful "Konō Faction" within the ruling Liberal Democratic Party of Japan. Konō aspired to become prime minister, but alth ...
and uncle of representative Yōhei Kōno. In the 1990s, a reapportionment of Councillors gave Kanagawa one additional seat per election; another reapportionment effective in the 2013 and 2016 elections will bring the total to eight. The currently seven Councillors from Kanagawa are, as of August 2013, two members each of Liberal Democratic Party, Democratic Party and Your Party and one Kōmeitō member.
Governor
Kanagawa's current governor is former news anchor
Yūji Kuroiwa
is a Japanese politician and the governor of Kanagawa Prefecture located in Kantō region of Japan.unified local elections in 2011 with support from Liberal Democrats, Democrats and
Kōmeitō
, formerly New Komeito and abbreviated NKP, is a conservative political party in Japan founded by lay members of the Buddhist Japanese new religious movement Soka Gakkai in 1964. Since 2012, it has served in government as the junior coalit ...
, i.e. as a de facto all-party candidate of the established non-Communist parties though the recently created Your Party and the network movement together supported the candidacy of Jun'ichi Tsuyuki who surpassed the Communist candidate and received more than a quarter of the vote.
Kuroiwa is the sixth elected governor since 1947. Past elected governors of Kanagawa were:
# Iwatarō Uchiyama, 5 terms, 1947–1967,
#
Bungo Tsuda
was a Japanese politician. He served as governor of Kanagawa Prefecture from April 23, 1967 until April 22, 1975.
Tsuda was born in Kosugi, Toyama and died at the age of 89 of colorectal cancer in Yokohama
is the second-largest city in ...
Shigefumi Matsuzawa
is a Japanese politician and a current member of the House of Councillors for the Kanagawa at-large district in the Diet of Japan. A native of Kawasaki, Kanagawa and graduate of Keio University with a bachelor's degree in Political Science, h ...
, 2 terms, 2003–2011.
Assembly
The Kanagawa Prefectural Assembly has currently 107 members. They are elected every four years in unified regional elections by single non-transferable vote (in single-member districts identical to first-past-the-post) in 47 electoral districts most of which correspond to the wards of designated cities, independent cities and counties of Kanagawa. In the most recent elections in April 2011, the Liberal Democratic Party remained strongest party with 40 seats, the Democratic Party won 29 and Yoshimi Watanabe's
Your Party
is a Japanese parliamentary caucus consisting of Yoshimi Watanabe and Takashi Tachibana, later Satoshi Hamada after Tachibana forfeited his seat, in the House of Councillors. It was also a political party led by Watanabe from 2009 until its ...
won 15 seats. Kōmeitō holds 10 assembly seats, the Japanese Communist Party is no longer represented since 2011. One seat held by members of the Kanagawa Network, part of the "network movement", the same national federation of consumer movements as the
Tokyo Seikatsusha Network
The Tokyo Seikatsusha Network (東京・生活者ネットワーク, ''Tōkyō Seikatsusha Nettowāku'') is a local Japanese political party affiliated with Tokyo Seikatsu Club, a consumer's cooperative. It is generally moderate left, and ten ...
.
The current composition of the assembly is as follows (as of May 15, 2014):
The current 106th assembly president is Tokie Furusawa (LDP, Naka county electoral district), the 107th vice president is Takahiro Aihara (Kenseikai, Asao ward).Kanagawa Prefectural Assembly List of presidents and vice presidents since 1879 /ref>