Abstract: The participation of civic organizations is an important part of governance system. Among it, in the context of decentralization and local residents' autonomy in local governance system, civic organization formed by local residents is an important participant in it. Autonomy associations in Japan both in terms of quantity and the scale of distribution are Japan's largest civic organization, which as a local community civic organizations, plays an active part in local governance. Meanwhile, Autonomy associations with auxiliary administrative function, has the characteristics of maintaining good cooperation and coordination with municipalities and local government. Therefore, it shows the characteristics of "administrative medium type citizen participation mode" in local governance. On the one hand, it mobilizes local residents to participate in local governance, provides public services for the local residents. On the other hand, it advocates its interests through good relations and cooperation with local administration in order to influence the local government.

Key words: autonomy associations, local governance in Japan, civic organizations