日本的地方行政組織，設有都、道、府、縣和市、町、村兩個層組。而以市町村為最基層行政單位。本文探討市、町、村的合併，分昭和時代和最近的合併，包括合併的動機及原因，推行合併之步驟、內容、障礙、解決障礙的辦法，合併之佳的利弊得失，並探討昭代村、筑波市、仙台市之案例，最佳結論認為合併是時代趨勢。

Combination and/or merger have long been the effective vehicles to upgrade administrative innovation and managerial efficiency for local districts. When adressed as a typical case, local districts in Japan could be characterized by two levels. The main purpose of this paper is to explore the scenarios of merging different local districts in Japan, including the motives behind, steps taken, obstacles encountered, alternative resolution worked out, and cost-benefit analyzed. In the paper, empirical cased are used as secondary data to reinforce the tentative conclusion that merger is inevitable trend in local districts, one way or another.