Hokkaido Prefecture had 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. From April 2010, Hokkaido has 9 General Subprefectural Bureaus (総合振興局, sōgō-shinkō-kyoku, literally "Comprehensive Promotion Bureau") and 5 Subprefectural Bureaus (振興局, shinkō-kyoku, literally "Promotion Bureau")).
For historical reasons, some older people in Hokkaido use the subprefecture name suffixed by -kannai in their address.
| 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 Hakodate-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 Hokkaido Prefecture was established. Hokkaido Prefecture took over shichō. |
See also: List of mergers in Hokkaido.
| Subprefecture | Japanese | Capital | Largest municipality | Pop. (2009) | Area (km2) | Pop. Density | Municipalities | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cities | Towns | Villages | |||||||||
| 1 | Sorachi | Japanese: 空知総合振興局 | Iwamizawa | Iwamizawa | 338,485 | 5,791.19 | 58.45 | 10 | 14 | 0 | |
| a | ↳ Ishikari | Japanese: 石狩振興局 | Sapporo | Sapporo | 2,324,878 | 3,539.86 | 656.77 | 6 | 1 | 1 | |
| 2 | Shiribeshi | Japanese: 後志総合振興局 | Kutchan | Otaru | 234,984 | 4,305.83 | 54.57 | 1 | 13 | 6 | |
| 3 | Iburi | Japanese: 胆振総合振興局 | Muroran | Tomakomai | 419,115 | 3,698.00 | 113.34 | 4 | 7 | 0 | |
| b | ↳ Hidaka | Japanese: 日高振興局 | Urakawa | Shinhidaka | 76,084 | 4,811.97 | 15.81 | 0 | 7 | 0 | |
| 4 | Oshima | Japanese: 渡島総合振興局 | Hakodate | Hakodate | 433,475 | 3,936.46 | 110.12 | 2 | 9 | 0 | |
| c | ↳ Hiyama | Japanese: 檜山振興局 | Esashi | Setana | 43,210 | 2,629.94 | 16.43 | 0 | 7 | 0 | |
| 5 | Kamikawa | Japanese: 上川総合振興局 | Asahikawa | Asahikawa | 527,575 | 10,619.20 | 49.68 | 4 | 17 | 2 | |
| d | ↳ Rumoi | Japanese: 留萌振興局 | Rumoi | Rumoi | 53,916 | 3,445.75 | 15.65 | 1 | 6 | 1 | |
| 6 | Sōya | Japanese: 宗谷総合振興局 | Wakkanai | Wakkanai | 71,423 | 4,625.09 | 15.44 | 1 | 8 | 1 | |
| 7 | Okhotsk | Japanese: オホーツク総合振興局 | Abashiri | Kitami | 309,487 | 10,690.62 | 28.95 | 3 | 14 | 1 | |
| 8 | Tokachi | Japanese: 十勝総合振興局 | Obihiro | Obihiro | 353,291 | 10,831.24 | 32.62 | 1 | 16 | 2 | |
| 9 | Kushiro | Japanese: 釧路総合振興局 | Kushiro | Kushiro | 252,571 | 5,997.38 | 42.11 | 1 | 6 | 1 | |
| e | ↳ Nemuro | Japanese: 根室振興局 | Nemuro | Nemuro | 84,035 | 3,406.23 | 24.67 | 1 | 4 | ||
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The prefectural government of Hokkaido planned to reorganize the current 14 subprefectures into 9 subprefectural bureaus. Five subprefectures, namely Hidaka, Hiyama, Ishikari, Nemuro, and Rumoi were subject to be cut down. The capital municipalities of these subprefectures opposed the plan, but on June 28, 2008, the prefectural council passed the ordinance of the reorganization.[1] The change should have taken effect in April 2009.
However, it was impossible to make the reform on time. The Public Offices Election Act and the Election Law were not amended on April 1, 2009, but the amendment the Public Offices Election Act was passed in the prefectural assembly on March 31, 2009 and took effect from April 1, 2010.