User:Asakura Akira/Chronological list of cities in Japan

Todo:
 * Move all "new establishment mergers" to the front columns as with #7 Himeji City, so the precursors can be listed, yet a single entry for homonymous successors be maintained
 * Maybe (?) add another running count excluding subsequently dissolved cites towards the current total

Notes:
 * Cities # 1–40 were all established by Home Ministry ordinance in 1889, but exact date of implementation varied from prefecture to prefecture. Of these, Cities #1–36 were contained in the first Home Ministry ordinance of 1889, February 2.
 * The precursors for cities established in the initial introduction of cities in 1889 (in Okinawa-ken & Hokkai-dō 1921/22) are not exact, in many cases the borders of -shi did expand (in some sections also recede) somewhat from the precursor -ku.
 * The N→S column allows to sort by prefecture from North to South in the order commonly used in Japan.
 * Abbreviations
 * Suffix translations (only used after 1889; the ku/gun/chō/son up to 1889 are not accurately described as wards/districts/towns/villages, but rather urban/rural districts or counties/cities & urban/rural neighbourhoods/areas/subdistricts)
 * C.: City (-shi)
 * D.: District (-gun)
 * T.: Town (-machi/-chō)
 * V.: Village (-mura/-son)
 * Prefix translations (mostly in district names stemming from Meiji era district partition)
 * N.: North (Kita-)
 * S.: South (Minami-)
 * E.: East (Higashi-)
 * W.: West (Nishi-)
 * Cent.: Central (Naka-)
 * Upp.: Upper (Kami-)
 * Low.: Lower (Shimo-)

Maintenance.temp
Abbr.s in this sect.:
 * P.=Prefecture (-to/-dō/-fu/-ken; all periods, i.e. incl. the -dō during the Empire because its subdivisions already became the same as in other P.s before WWII!)
 * D.=District (-gun)
 * U.D.=Urban District (1878–89 -ku, also Hokkai & Okinawa P.s' -ku/cities after that)
 * C.=City (-shi)
 * T.=Town (1889– -chō/-machi; obviously only where this is the suffix of a municipality, not where it is part of the name of a neighbourhood/part of a municipality, although both were historically the same thing)
 * V.=Village (1889– -son/-mura)
 * S.W.=Special ward ([tokubetsu]-ku)
 * W.=Ward (1889– -ku)

Ambiguities

 * Hiyoshi V., Kitauwa D., Ehime P. (Hiyoshi, Ehime→Hiyoshi, Kitauwa, Ehime? ja:日吉村 (愛媛県北宇和郡)) vs. Hiyoshi V., Ochi D., Ehime P. (Hiyoshi, Ochi, Ehime; ja:日吉村 (愛媛県越智郡))

Trivia

 * Miyazaki became the last P. to contain its first C. in 1924.
 * Saitama was the last P. to have a T. as capital. (Urawa T., North Adachi D. only became Urawa C. in 1934)