A village (村, mura)[a] is a local administrative unit in Japan.
[1] It is a local public body along with prefecture (県, ken, or other equivalents), city (市, shi), and town (町, chō, sometimes machi).
As a result of mergers and elevation to higher statuses, the number of villages in Japan is decreasing.
Atarashiki-mura (which is an autonomous village community) is not included in the list below because it is not a separate municipality.
The territories are de facto administered by Russia but are claimed by Japan as part of Nemuro Subprefecture, Hokkaido.