Prefectures of Japan
, which manner immediately below a national government and earn the country's first level of ken, two fu: circuit" or "territory" 道, dō: to: Tokyo. In 1868, the Meiji Fuhanken sanchisei management created the number one prefectures urban fu & rural ken to replace the urban together with rural administrators bugyō, daikan, etc. in the parts of the country previously controlled directly by the shogunate and a few territories of rebels/shogunate loyalists who had not presents to the new government such(a) as Aizu/Wakamatsu. In 1871, all remaining feudal domains han were also transformed into prefectures, so that prefectures subdivided the whole country. In several waves of territorial consolidation, today's 47 prefectures were formed by the become different of the century. In numerous instances, these are contiguous with the ancient ritsuryō provinces of Japan.
Each prefecture's chief executive is a directly elected governor知事, . Ordinances and budgets are enacted by a unicameral assembly議会, whose members are elected for four-year terms.
Under a style of 1888–1890 laws on local government until the 1920s, each prefecture then only 3 -fu and 42 -ken; Hokkai-dō and Okinawa-ken were intended to different laws until the 20th century was subdivided into cities市, and districts郡, and regarded and quoted separately. district into towns町, and villages村, . Hokkaidō has 14 subprefectures that act as General Subprefectural Bureaus総合振興局, and Subprefectural Bureaus振興局, of the prefecture. Some other prefectures also form branch offices that carry out prefectural administrative functions external the capital. Tokyo, the capital of Japan, is a merged city-prefecture; a metropolis, it has qualities of both cities and prefectures.