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Subprefectures in Hokkaido |
| Administrative divisions of Japan |
|---|
| Prefectural level |
| Prefectures (都道府県 todōfuken) |
| Subprefectural level |
| Subprefectures (支庁 shichō) |
| Municipal level |
| Designated cities (政令指定都市 seirei-shitei-toshi) Special cities Special wards (Tokyo) |
| Sub-municipal level |
| Wards (区 ku) |
Hokkaidō Prefecture has 14 branch offices called 支庁 (shichō) in Japanese, which is often translated in English as subprefectures. Normally, a subprefecture consists of a few to a dozen cities, towns, and/or villages.
For historical reasons, some older people in Hokkaidō use the subprefecture name suffixed by -kannai in their address.
Contents |
| 1897 | Nineteen shichō were placed under Hokkaido Agency (an agency of the national government): Sapporo, Hakodate, Kameda, Matsumae, Hiyama, Suttsu, Iwanai, Otaru, Sorachi, Kamikawa, Mashike, Souya, Abashiri, Muroran, Urakawa, Kushiro, Kasai, Nemuro, and Shana. |
| 1899 | Sapporo-ku, Hakodate-ku, and Otaru-ku were established as municipalities independent of shichō. Sapporo-shichō and Otaru-shichō were continued with remaining area, but Hakodate-shichō was dissolved. Previous Kameda-shichō was renamed Hokodate-shichō. |
| 1903 | Matsumae-shichō was merged with Hakodate-shichō. Shana-shichō was merged with Nemuro-shichō. |
| 1910 | Suttsu-shichō, Iwanai-shichō, and Otaru-shichō were merged to form Shiribeshi-shichō. |
| 1914 | Asahikawa-ku was established as a municipality independent of Kamikawa-shichō. Mashike-shichō was renamed as Rumoi-shichō. |
| 1918 | Muroran-ku was established as a municipality independent of Muroran-shichō. |
| 1920 | Kushiro-ku was established as a municipality independent of Kushiro-shichō. |
| 1922 | The six ku were restated as shi (cities). Sapporo-shichō was renamed Ishikari-shichō. Hakodate-shichō was renamed Oshima-shichō. Muroran-shichō was renamed Iburi-shichō. |
| 1932 | Urakawa-shichō was renamed Hidaka-shichō. Kasai-shichō was renamed Tokachi-shichō. |
| 1947 | Hokkaido Agency was abolished and Hokkaidō Prefecture was established. Hokkaidō Prefecture took over shichō. |
| 2009 | The shichō will be reorganized into nine shinkōkyoku (development bureaus). |
Today, fourteen shichō effectively cover all of Hokkaidō. Technically, the shichō cover only towns and villages, although some commissioned business is conducted for cities.
Those in brackets are subprefectural capitals. Numbers are those of the map shown here.
Abashiri, No.11)
Urakawa, No.7).png){kind=small}
Esashi, No.5)
Muroran, No.6)
Sapporo, No.1)
Asahikawa, No.8)
Kushiro, No.13)
Nemuro, No.14)
Hakodate, No.4)
Rumoi, No.9)
Kutchan, No.3)
Iwamizawa, No.2)
Wakkanai, No.10)
Obihiro, No.12)The prefectural government of Hokkaidō plans to reorganize the current 14 subprefectures into 9 development bureaus. Five subprefectures, namely Hidaka, Hiyama, Ishikari, Nemuro, and Rumoi are subject to be cut down. The capital municipalities of these subprefectures oppose the plan. However, on June 28 2008, the prefectural council passed the ordinance of the reorganization. 1 The change will take effect from April 2009.
The general development bureaus (総合振興局 sōgō shinkō-kyoku?) are equivalent to the current subprefectures, while the development bureaus (振興局 shinkō-kyoku?) are the branch offices of them.
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