Editing Elections in Japan (section)

===Unified elections===
'''Unified local elections''' (統一地方選挙 ''tōitsu chihō senkyo'') are held once every four years. Prefectural assemblies and governors, as well as mayors and assemblies in municipalities, are elected for four-year terms. In April 1947, all local elections in the 46 prefectures (excluding [[Okinawa Prefecture]], then under [[United States Forces Japan|US military]] rule) and all their municipalities were held at the same time in "unified local elections". Since then, some gubernatorial and mayoral elections, and most assembly elections, have stayed on this original four-year cycle. Most governors and mayors are now elected on different schedules as the four-year cycle "resets" upon the resignation, death or removal of a sitting governor or mayor. Some assembly election cycles have also shifted due to assembly dissolutions or mergers of municipalities.

The most recent were the [[2023 Japanese unified local elections]].

{{Update section|reason=Please update to the results of the [[2019 Japanese unified local elections]]|date=October 2021}}
As of [[2015 Japanese unified local elections|2015]], the major contests in the unified local elections are as follows:

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
!Prefecture
!Governor
!Assembly
![[City designated by government ordinance|Designated city]] races
|-
|[[Hokkaido]]
|♦
|♦
|[[Sapporo]] mayor<br />Sapporo assembly
|-
|[[Aomori Prefecture|Aomori]]
|
|♦
|
|-
|[[Akita Prefecture|Akita]]
|
|♦
|
|-
|[[Yamagata Prefecture|Yamagata]]
|
|♦
|
|-
|[[Tochigi Prefecture|Tochigi]]
|
|♦
|
|-
|[[Gunma Prefecture|Gunma]]
|
|♦
|
|-
|[[Saitama Prefecture|Saitama]]
|
|♦
|[[Saitama City|Saitama]] assembly
|-
|[[Chiba Prefecture|Chiba]]
|
|♦
|[[Chiba City|Chiba]] assembly
|-
|[[Kanagawa Prefecture|Kanagawa]]
|♦
|♦
|[[Yokohama]] assembly<br />[[Kawasaki, Kanagawa|Kawasaki]] assembly<br />[[Sagamihara]] mayor<br />Sagamihara assembly
|-
|[[Niigata Prefecture|Niigata]]
|
|♦
|[[Niigata City|Niigata]] assembly
|-
|[[Toyama Prefecture|Toyama]]
|
|♦
|
|-
|[[Ishikawa Prefecture|Ishikawa]]
|
|♦
|
|-
|[[Fukui Prefecture|Fukui]]
|♦
|♦
|
|-
|[[Yamanashi Prefecture|Yamanashi]]
|
|♦
|
|-
|[[Nagano Prefecture|Nagano]]
|
|♦
|
|-
|[[Gifu Prefecture|Gifu]]
|
|♦
|
|-
|[[Shizuoka Prefecture|Shizuoka]]
|
|♦
|[[Shizuoka City|Shizuoka]] mayor<br />[[Hamamatsu]] mayor<br />Hamamatsu assembly
|-
|[[Aichi Prefecture|Aichi]]
|
|♦
|[[Nagoya]] assembly
|-
|[[Mie Prefecture|Mie]]
|♦
|♦
|
|-
|[[Shiga Prefecture|Shiga]]
|
|♦
|
|-
|[[Kyoto Prefecture|Kyoto]]
|
|♦
|[[Kyoto]] assembly
|-
|[[Osaka Prefecture|Osaka]]
|
|♦
|[[Osaka]] assembly<br />[[Sakai, Osaka|Sakai]] assembly
|-
|[[Hyōgo Prefecture|Hyōgo]]
|
|♦
|[[Kobe]] assembly
|-
|[[Nara Prefecture|Nara]]
|♦
|♦
|
|-
|[[Wakayama Prefecture|Wakayama]]
|
|♦
|
|-
|[[Tottori Prefecture|Tottori]]
|♦
|♦
|
|-
|[[Shimane Prefecture|Shimane]]
|♦
|♦
|
|-
|[[Okayama Prefecture|Okayama]]
|
|♦
|[[Okayama]] assembly
|-
|[[Hiroshima Prefecture|Hiroshima]]
|
|♦
|[[Hiroshima]] mayor<br />Hiroshima assembly
|-
|[[Yamaguchi Prefecture|Yamaguchi]]
|
|♦
|
|-
|[[Tokushima Prefecture|Tokushima]]
|♦
|♦
|
|-
|[[Kagawa Prefecture|Kagawa]]
|
|♦
|
|-
|[[Ehime Prefecture|Ehime]]
|
|♦
|
|-
|[[Kōchi Prefecture|Kōchi]]
|
|♦
|
|-
|[[Fukuoka Prefecture|Fukuoka]]
|♦
|♦
|[[Fukuoka]] assembly
|-
|[[Saga Prefecture|Saga]]
|
|♦
|
|-
|[[Nagasaki Prefecture|Nagasaki]]
|
|♦
|
|-
|[[Kumamoto Prefecture|Kumamoto]]
|
|♦
|[[Kumamoto]] assembly
|-
|[[Oita Prefecture|Oita]]
|♦
|♦
|
|-
|[[Miyazaki Prefecture|Miyazaki]]
|
|♦
|
|-
|[[Kagoshima Prefecture|Kagoshima]]
|
|♦
|
|}

Although [[Tokyo]]'s metropolitan governor and assembly elections are currently held on separate schedules, 21 of the 23 [[special wards of Tokyo]] follow the unified election schedule for their assembly elections, the only exceptions being [[Katsushika, Tokyo|Katsushika]] and [[Adachi, Tokyo|Adachi]]. The majority of Tokyo's special wards follow separate cycles for their mayoral elections. Tokyo elected its governor as part of the unified elections until [[2011 Japanese unified local elections|2011]], but was forced to hold a [[2012 Tokyo gubernatorial election|2012 election]] and [[2014 Tokyo gubernatorial election|2014 election]] due to the resignations of [[Shintaro Ishihara]] and [[Naoki Inose]].

[[Iwate Prefecture]], [[Miyagi Prefecture]] and [[Fukushima Prefecture]] are no longer on the unified election cycle due to the [[2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami]], which delayed their elections.

;List of unified local elections
*[[2007 Japanese unified local elections]]
*[[2011 Japanese unified local elections]]
*[[2015 Japanese unified local elections]]
*[[2019 Japanese unified local elections]]