Abstract: The 23 “special districts” under the jurisdiction of Tokyo, Japan, have experienced a long crisis of “identity” since the implementation of The Japanese Constitution. After the amendment of The Local Autonomy Act in 1952, the former system of public election of district heads was abolished and the system of district assembly election was created. The bribery case of Shibuya district head election in the year of 1957 was a sudden situation that arose under the background of this system change, which was related to the recognition of “local public organizations” in the Constitution. The attitude of the Tokyo District Court and the Supreme Court is completely different. The former recognizes the constitutional status of the “special district”, while the latter denies it and creatively proposes two criteria of “community consciousness” and “basic power”. It also echoes the “negative theory” advocated by the central government to fully delegate local autonomy to legislative policies.. The two standards of the Supreme Court are open to deliberation, and the subsequent development trend also proves the defects of the standards and the limitation of the range of judgment. The development process and experience of metropolitan local autonomy in Japan are vividly reflected in the issue of Tokyo metropolitan special districts.

Key words: Tokyo metropolitan special districts, local public organizations, metropolitan local autono-my, Japanese Constitutional Law