Special Cities (???, Tokureishi^?) of Japan are cities with populations of at least 200,000, and are delegated a subset of the functions delegated to core cities.

This category was established by the Local Autonomy Law, article 252 clause 26. They are designated by the Cabinet after a request by the city council and the prefectural assembly.

The special cities are not the same as the special wards of Tokyo.

List of Special Cities

Currently, 43 cities have been designated as Special Cities.

Region	Prefecture	Special City	Designated Date	Special Notes
Tohoku region	Aomori Prefecture	Hachinohe	October 1, 2001
	Yamagata Prefecture	Yamagata	April 1, 2001
Kanto region	Ibaraki Prefecture	Mito	April 1, 2001
		Tsukuba	April 1, 2007
	Gunma Prefecture	Maebashi	April 1, 2001	Scheduled to be promoted to a core city on April 1, 2009.
		Takasaki	April 1, 2001
		Isesaki	April 1, 2007
		Ota	April 1, 2007
	Saitama Prefecture	Kawaguchi	April 1, 2001	Kawaguchi has the largest estimated population amongst all special cities[1]?
		Tokorozawa	April 1, 2002
		Koshigaya	April 1, 2003
		Soka	April 1, 2004
		Kasugabe	April 1, 2008
	Kanagawa Prefecture	Odawara	November 1, 2000	Odawara has the smallest estimated population amongst all special cities[1]?
		Yamato	November 1, 2000
		Hiratsuka	April 1, 2001
		Atsugi	April 1, 2002
		Chigasaki	April 1, 2003
Chubu region	Yamanashi Prefecture	Kofu	November 1, 2000
	Nagano Prefecture	Matsumoto	November 1, 2000
	Niigata Prefecture	Joetsu	April 1, 2007
		Nagaoka	April 1, 2007
	Fukui Prefecture	Fukui	November 1, 2000
	Shizuoka Prefecture	Numazu	November 1, 2000
		Fuji	April 1, 2001
	Aichi Prefecture	Kasugai	April 1, 2001
		Ichinomiya	April 1, 2002
Kinki region	Mie Prefecture	Yokkaichi	November 1, 2000
	Shiga Prefecture	Otsu	April 1, 2001	Scheduled to be promoted to a core city on April 1, 2009.
	Osaka Prefecture	Toyonaka	April 1, 2001
		Suita	April 1, 2001
		Hirakata	April 1, 2001
		Ibaraki	April 1, 2001
		Yao	April 1, 2001
		Neyagawa	April 1, 2001
		Kishiwada	April 1, 2002
	Hyogo Prefecture	Amagasaki	April 1, 2001	Scheduled to be promoted to a core city on April 1, 2009.
		Akashi	April 1, 2002
		Kakogawa	April 1, 2002
		Takarazuka	April 1, 2003
Chugoku region	Hiroshima Prefecture	Kure	November 1, 2000
	Tottori Prefecture	Tottori	October 1, 2005
Kyushu	Nagasaki Prefecture	Sasebo	April 1, 2001

Former special cities now core or designated cities

• Hakodate (Hokkaido Prefecture)

Became a special city on November 1, 2000; achieved the status of Core city on October 1, 2005.

• Shimizu (Shizuoka Prefecture)

Became a special city on April 1, 2001; on April 1, 2003 the city merged with the old core city of Shizuoka to form the new core city of Shizuoka; achieved the status of designated city of April 1, 2005. The former city of Shimizu is the only city to become an ordinary, special, core, and designated city, or once designated in the past.

• Shimonoseki (Yamaguchi Prefecture)

Became a special city of April 1, 2002; Redesignated on February 13, 2005 when the city merged with the former towns of Kikugawa, Toyota, Toyoura, and Hohoku to form the new city of Shimonoseki; achieved the status of Core city in 2005.

• Morioka (Iwate Prefecture)

Became a special city of November 1, 2000; achieved the status of Core city in April 1, 2008.

• Kurume (Fukuoka Prefecture)

Became a special city of April 1, 2001; achieved the status of Core city in April 1, 2008.

Cities that have the requirements but are not yet designated

The following cities have the population of more than 200,000 people but have not yet been designated (Scheduled to become a special city are not in this list)

Scheduled to become a special city

[] References

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