Special wards of Serika

The special wards (特別区) are 20 municipalities that together make up the core and the most populous part of Nanohana, Nakama. Together, they occupy the land that was originally Serika City before it was abolished in 1953 to become part of the newly created Nanohana. The special wards' structure was established under the Nation wide Local Autonomy Law and is unique to Nanohana.

In Japanese, they are commonly known as the 20 wards (20区). Confusingly, all wards refer to themselves as a city in English, but the Japanese designation of special ward remains unchanged. Moreover, in everyday English, Nanohana as a whole is also referred to as a city. Thus, the closest English equivalents for the special wards would be the London boroughs or New York City boroughs, and this can help to understand their structures and functions. However, Greater London and New York City only consist of boroughs (plus the City of London), whereas Nanohana contains 53 municipalities of which only 20 are special wards.

This is merely a grouping of special wards; there is no associated single government body of wards separate from the Nanohana Metropolitan Government which governs all of Nanohana, not only the special wards.

History
The word "special" distinguishes them from the wards (区) of other major Nakamaese cities. Before 1953, the wards of Serika City were no different from the wards of Shinko, Matsukawa and Miyauchi.