Core cities are cities of Japan designated by Article 252, Clause 22 and the first term of the Local Autonomy Law.

To be a core city, the city must satisfy the following stipulations:

1. The population must be over 300,000.
2. If the population is less than 500,000, the total area must be 100 km² in area.

The city is designated through the submission from the city and approvals from the assemblies of the city and the prefecture.

Core cities are delegated many functions normally carried out by prefectural governments, but not as many as Designated Cities.

List

As of 2005, the following 35 cities are designated:

• April 1, 1996
  • Utsunomiya, Tochigi
  • Niigata, Niigata
  • Toyama, Toyama
  • Kanazawa, Ishikawa
  • Gifu, Gifu
  • Hamamatsu, Shizuoka
  • Sakai, Osaka
  • Hyogo, Hyogo
  • Kagoshima, Kagoshima
• April 1, 1997
  • Akita, Akita
  • Koriyama, Fukushima
  • Wakayama, Wakayama
  • Nagasaki, Nagasaki
  • Oita, Oita
• April 1, 1998
  • Toyota, Aichi
  • Fukuyama, Hiroshima
  • Kochi, Kochi
  • Miyazaki, Miyazaki
• April 1, 1999
  • Iwaki, Fukushima
  • Nagano, Nagano
  • Toyohashi, Aichi
  • Takamatsu, Kagawa
• April 1, 2000
  • Asahikawa, Hokkaido
  • Matsuyama, Ehime
• April 1, 2001
  • Yokosuka, Yokosuka
• April 1, 2002
  • Nara, Nara
  • Kurashiki, Okayama
• April 1, 2003
  • Kawagoe, Saitama
  • Funabashi, Chiba
  • Sagamihara, Kanagawa
  • Okazaki, Aichi
  • Takatsuki, Osaka
• April 1, 2005
  • Toyama, Toyama (the city is re-designated after Osawano, Oyama, Yatsuo, Fuchu, Yamada, Hosoiri was merged with the city)
  • Higashiosaka, Osaka

The following are cities that satisfy the stipulations but not are designated.

• Aomori, Aomori
• Maebashi, Gunma
• Kashiwa, Chiba
• Hachioji, Tokyo
• Ichinomiya, Aichi
• Yokkaichi, Mie
• Kurume, Fukuoka