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Cities ( shi, and the ku of Tokyo), towns (çº, pronounced either cho or machi), villages (æ, pronounced either son or mura) are basic municipalties.
The difference between a shi and a special ward, the difference between a cho and a machi, and the difference between a son and a mura are only matters of the expression used in legal text.
Except for these wards of Tokyo, all large cities are of cities designated by government ordinance.
They are special because although they are autonomous with each having a local government, they must at the same time function seamlessly together as one large urban entity in central Tokyo.
In 1943, when the Tokyo city government and prefectural government merged into a single metropolitan government, the wards were placed under the direct control of the metropolis.
The total population of the 23 special wards is 8.34 million (as of Sept. 1, 2003), about two-thirds of the population of Tokyo and a quarter of the population of the Greater Tokyo Area.
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