A village (村) is a local administrative unit in Japan. It is a local public body along with prefecture (県), city (市), and town (町). Geographically, a village's extent is contained within a prefecture. Villages are larger than a local settlement; each is a subdivision of rural district (郡), which are subdivided into towns and villages with no overlap and no uncovered area. As a result of mergers and elevation to higher statuses, the number of villages in Japan is decreasing. As of 2006, 13 prefectures no longer have any villages: Tochigi (since March 20, 2006), Fukui (since March 3, 2006), Ishikawa (since March 1, 2005), Shizuoka (since July 1, 2005), Hyōgo (since April 1, 1999), Mie (since November 1, 2005), Shiga (since January 1, 2005), Hiroshima (since November 5, 2004), Yamaguchi (since March 20, 2006), Ehime (since January 16, 2005), Kagawa (since April 1, 1999), Nagasaki (since October 1, 2005), and Saga (since March 20, 2006). Atarashiki-mura (which is an autonomous village community) is not included in the list below because it is not a separate municipality.

Villages

Villages in the Northern Territories

The following is a list of disputed villages in the southern Kuril Islands. The territories are de facto administered by Russia but are claimed by Japan as part of Nemuro Subprefecture, Hokkaido.