Japanese central coordination law enforcement agency
The is the central coordinating law enforcement agency of the Japanese police system. Unlike national police in other countries, the NPA does not have any operational units of its own aside from the Imperial Guard; rather, it is responsible for supervising Japan's 47 prefectural police departments and determining their general standards and policies, though it can command police agencies under it in national emergencies or large-scale disasters. It is under the National Public Safety Commission of the Cabinet Office.
As of 2017, the NPA has a strength of approximately 7,800 personnel: 2,100 sworn officers, 900 guards, and 4,800 civilian staff.
History.
Police services of the Empire of Japan were placed under complete centralized control with the of the Home Ministry at their core. But after the surrender of Japan, the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers regarded this centralized police system as undemocratic.
During the occupation, the principle of decentralization was introduced by the 1947 . Cities and large towns had their own , and the was responsible for smaller towns, villages and rural areas. But most Japanese municipalities were too small to have a large police force, so sometimes they were unable to deal with large-scale violence. In addition, excessive fragmentation of the police organization reduced the efficiency of police activities.
As a response to these problems, complete restructuring created a more centralized system under the 1954 amended Police Law. All operational units except for the Imperial Guard were reorganized into prefectural police for each prefecture, and the National Police Agency was established as the central coordinating agency for these Police Departments.
On April 1, 2022, the NPA created the Cyber Affairs Bureau and the National Cyber Unit. In December 2023, the NPA announced that the TAIT (Telecom Scam Allianced Investigation Team) will be established in April 2024 to unify investigation efforts across Japan on fraud cases.
Organization.
Leadership.
The is the highest ranking police officer of Japan, regarded as an exception to the regular class structure. For the , the Senior Commissioner is supplemented. The are their staff. The civilian political leadership is provided by the National Public Safety Commission.
Internal Bureaus.
Community Safety Bureau.
The is responsible for crime prevention, combating juvenile delinquency, and pollution control. 
This bureau was derived from the Safety Division of the Criminal Affairs Bureau in 1994.
Criminal Affairs Bureau.
The is in charge of research statistics and coordination of the criminal investigation of nationally important and international cases.
Traffic Bureau.
The is responsible for traffic policing and regulations. This bureau was derived from the (later merged with the Criminal Affairs Bureau; predecessor of the Community Safety Bureau) in 1962 because of the expression indicating a high number of deaths from traffic accidents.
Security Bureau.
The is in charge of the internal security affairs, such as counter-intelligence, counter-terrorism or disaster response.
After the 1996 Japanese embassy hostage crisis in Peru, the Security Bureau established the Terrorism Response Team where officers liaise with foreign law enforcement and intelligence agencies when Japanese interests or nationals are in danger. It was later reformed to the Terrorism Response Team - Tactical Wing (TRT-2) for Overseas in order to meet with demands to coordinate with foreign police forces in assisting them whenever a terror attack has happened.
Cyber Affairs bureau.
The is in charge of policing in cyberspace, combat with cybercrime and cyberterrorism.
This bureau was restructured from the Info-Communications Bureau in 2022 by integrating cyber-related divisions in several bureaus.
Local Branch Bureaus and Departments.
Regional Police Bureaus.
There are six , each responsible for a number of prefectures as below:
 Aomori, Iwate, Miyagi, Akita, Yamagata, and Fukushima Prefectures
 Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma, Saitama, Chiba, Kanagawa, Niigata, Yamanashi, Nagano, and Shizuoka Prefectures
 Toyama, Ishikawa, Fukui, Gifu, Aichi, and Mie Prefectures
 Shiga, Kyoto, Osaka, Hyogo, Nara, and Wakayama Prefectures
 Tottori, Shimane, Okayama, Hiroshima, and Yamaguchi Prefectures
 Tokushima, Kagawa, Ehime, and Kochi Prefectures
 Fukuoka, Saga, Nagasaki, Kumamoto, Oita, Miyazaki, Kagoshima, and Okinawa Prefectures
They are located in major cities of each geographic region. The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department and Hokkaido Prefectural Police Headquarters are excluded from the jurisdiction of regional police bureaus. Headed by a Senior Commissioner, each regional police bureaus exercises necessary control and supervision over and provides support services to prefectural police within its jurisdiction, under the authority and orders of NPA's Commissioner General. Attached to each Regional Police Bureaus is a Regional Police School which provides police personnel with education and training required of staff officers as well as other necessary education and training.
Police Communications Departments.
Metropolitan Tokyo and the island of Hokkaidō are excluded from the regional jurisdictions and are run more autonomously than other local forces, in the case of Tokyo, because of its special urban situation, and of Hokkaidō, because of its distinctive geography. The National Police Agency maintains police communications divisions in these two areas to handle any coordination needed between national and local forces. In other area, Police Communications Departments are established within each Regional Police Bureaus.
References.
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