Administrative divisions of Japan

The bureaucratic administration of Japan is divided into three basic levels; national, prefectural and municipal. Below the national government there are 47 prefectures, six of which are further subdivided into sub-prefectures to better service large geographical areas or remote islands. The municipalities (cities, towns and villages) are the lowest level of government; the twenty most-populated cities outside of Tokyo are known as designated cities and are sub-divided into wards.

The top tier of administrative divisions are the 47 prefectural entities: 43 prefectures (県, ken^?) proper, 2 urban prefectures (府, fu^?, Osaka, and Kyoto), 1 "circuit" (道, dō^?, Hokkaido), and 1 "metropolis" (都, to^?, Tokyo). Although different in name they are functionally the same.

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