HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The is the government of the
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 ...
. One of the 56
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, the government consists of a popularly elected governor and assembly. The headquarters building is located in the ward of Shinjuku. The metropolitan government administers the
special wards 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 autono ...
, cities, towns and villages that constitute part of the Tokyo Metropolis. With a population closing in on 14 million living within its boundaries, and many more commuting from neighbouring prefectures, the metropolitan government wields significant political power within Japan.


Structure of Tokyo Metropolis

Under
Japanese law The law of Japan refers to legal system in Japan, which is primarily based on legal codes and statutes, with precedents also playing an important role. Japan has a civil law legal system with six legal codes, which were greatly influenced by Ger ...
, Tokyo is designated as a ''to'' ( ), translated as ''
metropolis A metropolis () is a large city or conurbation which is a significant economic, political, and cultural center for a country or region, and an important hub for regional or international connections, commerce, and communications. A big ci ...
''. Within Tokyo Metropolis lie dozens of smaller entities, including twenty-three special wards (特別 -ku) which until 1943 made up
Tokyo City was a municipality in Japan and part of Tokyo-fu which existed from 1 May 1889 until its merger with its prefecture on 1 July 1943. The historical boundaries of Tokyo City are now occupied by the Special Wards of Tokyo. The new merged gove ...
but which now have individual local governments, each with a leader and a council. In addition to these 23 local governments, Tokyo also encompasses 26 cities ( -shi), five towns ( -chō or machi), and eight villages ( -son or -mura), each of which has a local government. These other municipalities are located in the western part of the prefecture, as well as the outlying island chains of
Izu Izu may refer to: Places *Izu Province, a part of modern-day Shizuoka prefecture in Japan **Izu, Shizuoka, a city in Shizuoka prefecture **Izu Peninsula, near Tokyo **Izu Islands, located off the Izu Peninsula People with the surname

*, Japane ...
and Ogasawara.


Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly

The Metropolitan Assembly is the legislative organ of the whole prefecture of Tokyo. It consists of 127 members elected each four years. Regular sessions are held four times each year, in February, June, September and December. These sessions typically last for 30 days. Between these are plenary sessions where discussions on bills are held.


Governor

As in other
prefectures of Japan Japan is divided into 47 prefectures (, ''todōfuken'', ), which rank immediately below the national government and form the country's first level of jurisdiction and administrative division. They include 43 prefectures proper (, ''ken''), two ...
, the people of Tokyo directly elect the governor to four-year terms of office. There is no limit to the number of terms a person may serve. Unlike collegiate cabinet systems, where the decisions are made unanimously, the Governor has the authority to make policy decisions and enforce policy. As the executive chief of Tokyo, ruling an area encompassing 13 million inhabitants and a GDP comparable in size to some countries, they hold the greatest influence among Japan's governors. In contrast to other prefectures, the governor of Tokyo has a relatively important role given the size of Tokyo's budget (13 trillion yen as of 2014, which is roughly equivalent to the government budget of Sweden). The Tokyo metropolitan government is also granted relative freedom in how it allocates the budget, as it is not subject to national government subsidies which other prefectures receive. The responsibility for approving the metropolitan budget lies with the governor and the assembly. The assembly may vote for no confidence in the governor and the governor may order the assembly to be dissolved. Karasumaru Mitsue served as the first prefectural governor of Edo Prefecture in 1868. Several months later, the prefecture was renamed to ''Tokyo'' and Karasumaru's tenure continued.


Appointed governors of Tokyo Prefecture (1868–1943)

''From the Japanese Wikipedia'' * Karasumaru Mitsue (1868) *
Ōki Takatō , was a Japanese statesman during the early Meiji period. He was Governor of Tokyo in 1868 and a member of the Japanese Privy Council in 1889.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Ōki Takatō" in . Biography Ōki was born into a ''samurai ...
(1868–1869) * Mibu Motoosa (1869–1871) * Yuri Kimimasa (1871–1872) * Ōkubo Ichiō (1872–1875) *
Kusumoto Masataka (April 14, 1838 – February 7, 1902) was a Japanese Home Ministry government official. He was a member of the House of Representatives of the Empire of Japan and its third speaker. Previously, he was governor of Niigata Prefecture (1872–1875) ...
(1875–1879) * Matsuda Michiyuki (1879–1882) * Yoshikawa Akimasa (1882–1885) * Watanabe Hiromoto (1885–1886) *
Takasaki Goroku is a city located in Gunma Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 372,369 in 167,345 households, and a population density of 810 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Takasaki is famous as the hometown of th ...
(1886–1890) * Marquis Hachisuka Mochiaki (1890–1891) * Tomita Tetsunosuke (1891–1893) * Miura Yasushi (1893–1896) *Marquis Koga Michitsune (1896–1897) *
Viscount A viscount ( , for male) or viscountess (, for female) is a title used in certain European countries for a noble of varying status. In many countries a viscount, and its historical equivalents, was a non-hereditary, administrative or judicia ...
Okabe Nagamoto (1897–1898) * Koizuka Ryū (1898) * Baron Senge Takatomi (1898–1908) *
Abe Hiroshi (governor) Hiroshi Abe is the name of: People * Hiroshi Abe (actor) (born 1964), Japanese model and actor * Hiroshi Abe (astronomer) (born 1958), Japanese amateur astronomer affiliated with the Yatsuka Observatory * Hiroshi Abe (war criminal) (born c.1922) ...
(1908–1912, 1st time) *Abe Hiroshi (1919–1921, 2nd time) * Usami Katsuo (1921–1925)


Appointed governors of Tokyo Metropolis (1943–1947)

*
Shigeo Ōdachi was a bureaucrat, politician and cabinet minister in both early Shōwa period Japan and in the post-war era. Biography Ōdachi was born in what is now Hamada, Shimane, as the younger son of a local ''sake'' brewer. After his graduation in 1916 ...
(1943–1944) * Toshizō Nishio (1944–1945) * Hisatada Hirose (1945–1946) * Shōhei Fujinuma (1946) * Haruo Matsui (1946) * Seiichirō Yasui (1946–1947) * Kazumi Iinuma (1947)


Elected governors of Tokyo Metropolis (1947–present)

* Seiichiro Yasui (1947–1959) * Ryotaro Azuma (1959–1967) *
Ryokichi Minobe was a Japanese politician who served as Governor of Tokyo from 1967 to 1979. He is one of the best known socialist figures in modern Japanese history. Early life Minobe was born in Tokyo. His father, Tatsukichi Minobe, was a noted constitutiona ...
(1967–1979) * Shunichi Suzuki (1979–1995) *
Yukio Aoshima was a Japanese politician who served as Governor of Tokyo from 1995 to 1999. He is also well known as a TV actor, novelist, film director, screenwriter and songwriter. Early life and artistic career Yukio was born in Nihonbashi ward of Tok ...
(1995–1999) *
Shintaro Ishihara was a Japanese politician and writer who was Governor of Tokyo from 1999 to 2012. Being the former leader of the radical right Japan Restoration Party, he was one of the most prominent ultranationalists in modern Japanese politics. An ultra ...
(1999–2012) *
Naoki Inose is a Japanese politician, journalist, historian, social critic and biographer of literary figures such as Yukio Mishima and Osamu Dazai. He served as Lieutenant Governor of Tokyo from June 2007Jun Hongo"Ishihara's new right-hand man settles in."'' ...
(2012–2013) *
Yōichi Masuzoe is a Japanese politician who was elected to the position of governor of Tokyo in 2014 and resigned in June 2016 due to the misuse of public funds. He was previously a member of the Japanese House of Councillors and the Japanese Minister of Heal ...
(2014–2016) *
Yuriko Koike is a Japanese politician who currently serves as the Governor of Tokyo since 2016. She graduated from the American University in Cairo in 1976 and was a member of the House of Representatives of Japan from 1993 until 2016, when she resigned to ...
(2016–present)


Political parties and elections

Tokyo's population consists largely of swing voters who are not loyal to any one political party. Tokyoites tend to vote for independent candidates with name recognition or in response to
hot-button issue Controversy is a state of prolonged public dispute or debate, usually concerning a matter of conflicting opinion or point of view. The word was coined from the Latin ''controversia'', as a composite of ''controversus'' – "turned in an opposite d ...
s, and have been less susceptible to pork-barrel spending and other "machine" style politics than voters elsewhere in Japan. With the early elections for the Metropolitan Assembly in 1965 due to a corruption scandal, Tokyo became the first prefecture not to hold its assembly elections during the unified local elections (''tōitsu chihō senkyo''), which typically take place in prefectures and municipalities throughout the country every four years. By 2011, it was one of six prefectures not to do so, the others being Iwate, Miyagi,
Fukushima may refer to: Japan * Fukushima Prefecture, Japanese prefecture ** Fukushima, Fukushima, capital city of Fukushima Prefecture, Japan ***Fukushima University, national university in Japan *** Fukushima Station (Fukushima) in Fukushima, Fukushim ...
, Ibaraki and
Okinawa is a prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 km2 (880 sq mi). Naha is the capital and largest city ...
. Following Shintarō Ishihara's resignation in October 2012, Tokyo held an early gubernatorial election in December 2012 and completely left the unified election cycle. The four largest established national political parties of the past decade (Liberal Democrats, Democrats, Kōmeitō, Communists) are represented in the Tokyo Assembly. The Social Democratic Party, formerly the Japanese Socialist Party, which had been the second major party for much of the postwar era, lost its one remaining seat in the 2001 election.The Japan Times, June 25, 2001
LDP wins big in Tokyo assembly election. Koizumi gets resounding vote of confidence.
/ref>


Recent elections

Governor
Naoki Inose is a Japanese politician, journalist, historian, social critic and biographer of literary figures such as Yukio Mishima and Osamu Dazai. He served as Lieutenant Governor of Tokyo from June 2007Jun Hongo"Ishihara's new right-hand man settles in."'' ...
, endorsed by the Liberal Democratic Party,
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 ...
and
Japan Restoration Party The , also referred to in English as the Japan Restoration Association, was a Japanese political party. It was launched on 12 September 2012 and gained official recognition on 28 September 2012. The party grew from the regional Osaka Restoration ...
, won roughly two-thirds of the vote in the 2012 Tokyo gubernatorial election. Inose resigned in December 2013 and his successor
Yoichi Masuzoe Yoichi may refer to: *Yōichi, Japanese given name *, district in Shiribeshi, Hokkaidō Prefecture, Japan *, town in Yoichi District *, a Japanese whisky distillery in the town *, train station in Yoichi District * also Yoichi is a masculine Japane ...
was elected in the
2014 Tokyo gubernatorial election The 2014 Tokyo gubernatorial election took place on February 9, 2014 to replace outgoing Governor Naoki Inose, who resigned effective December 24, 2013. Yōichi Masuzoe was declared the winner in exit polling, with a substantial lead over the fift ...
. Masuzoe resigned in June 2016 and a new election was held on 31 July 2016.
Yuriko Koike is a Japanese politician who currently serves as the Governor of Tokyo since 2016. She graduated from the American University in Cairo in 1976 and was a member of the House of Representatives of Japan from 1993 until 2016, when she resigned to ...
, former LDP defense minister but running as an independent, was elected with 44,49% of the popular vote. The last assembly election was held on July 27. The new party of the governor Yuriko Koike (
Tomin First no Kai is a regional political party in Tokyo, Japan. The party was founded by Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike in 2017. Koike later stepped down as the party's leader and is no longer officially affiliated with the party, however her policies and image ...
) won 49 seats with 33.68% of the vote. The LDP obtained 23 seats with 22.53% of the vote. The
New Komeito Party , 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 coalitio ...
, allied with Gov. Koike also obtained 23 seats, with 13.13% of the vote. The previous election was held in June 2013. The LDP won 36% of the vote and 59 of 127 seats in the
2013 Tokyo prefectural election Prefectural elections for the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly was held on 23 June 2013, one month before 2013 Japanese House of Councillors election. The Liberal Democratic Party took majority control of the assembly from the Democratic Party of Japan ...
. In the previous election of 2009, the Democratic Party had managed to become strongest party after forty years of LDP dominance. In 2012, the DPJ was reduced to fourth party with 15 seats (15.2% of the vote) as the Kōmeitō won 23 seats (14.1% of the vote) and Communists 17 seats (13.6% of the vote).


Past elections


See also

* Politics of Tokyo City * Mayors of Tokyo


References


External links


Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly


* Tokyo electoral commission

(in Japanese) {{Coord, 35.6895, N, 139.6918, E, source:wikidata, display=title
Metropolitan Government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-l ...