Historical background[edit]
As one of Japan's three most important cities (the "three capitals", santo: Tokyo City, Osaka City and Kyoto City), wards (ku) as subdivisions of the city were set up in 1878 and are thereby older than the city as a modern administrative unit itself, and when (albeit limited) local autonomy was introduced for other municipalities in the 1880s, autonomy rights in Tokyo City, Osaka City and Kyoto City were limited by a special imperial decree: The governor of Osaka also took the role of mayor of Osaka City and there was no independent city executive. After the decree had been lifted in 1898, the administration evolved as in other major cities of Japan. Unlike Tokyo City, Osaka City was not dissolved by the central government in World War II. In 1947, the U.S. drafted constitution and the Local Autonomy Law created the current legal framework of local autonomy for the city. In 1956, it became one of the first five "designated major cities".
National representation[edit]
Osaka City is covered by six of Osaka's 19 electoral districts for the House of Representatives. Osaka's 1st through 5th districts only consist of wards of Osaka city, the 6th districts covers the Asahi and Tsurumi wards but also extends into other areas of Osaka, namely Moriguchi City and Kadoma City.
Prefectural representation[edit]
As in all designated cities, Osaka City's wards serve as electoral districts for the Osaka Prefectural Assembly. Most are single- or two-member districts. Together they elect 33 of the 109 members of the assembly.[1]