List of towns in Japan

Machi (Japanese町; into the Kun - reading) or Chō ( also町; into the on- reading) refers to two types of administrative units in Japan.

Autonomous communities

After Chiho - jichi - hō (地方自治 法, "Law on Local Self-Government " ) Machi addition Mura and Shi ( together市町村shi- chō -son ) one of the three regular types of municipalities and direct sub -division of a Japanese prefecture ( Ken ). In Japanese, the name of this community are called together with the suffix -machi/-chō usually. In contrast to the smaller rural Mura is in Machi to urban communities that are comparable to a small European town.

On 8 March 2010, the number of lay Shi ( city ) in Japan with 784 for the first time higher than the number of Machi ( 783 ). At the beginning of the Heisei - territorial reform ( Heisei Daigappei ) there was still 670 Shi and 1994 Machi in April 1999. The number of villages / rural communities ( Mura) fell in the same period of 568 to 187

Vilage

Inside a Japanese town is called so Orts-/Stadtteile, many included in the name of the additive -machi or chō -. In government- designated cities ( shitei toshi Seirei ) are a subdivision of districts ( Ku ); in smaller communities and in the 23 districts of Tokyo are the next largest division unit according to the local level. Unlike German districts are clearly defined administrative units. For local information in cities Machi / Chō plays a similar role as streets in Central Europe.

The next subdivision of a Machi / Chō speaks in turn " Chō ", but with another character (丁). While the larger Machi / Chō (町) carries proper names, in which there is either a " machi " or " -chō " read the smaller Chō (丁) are consistently numbered.