On December 14 the Japanese Cabinet agreed a plan for regional devolutionary reform. The meeting also agreed, following discussions with local government representatives, to legislate in the coming session to mark out further the division of responsibilities between national and local government and adopt a strategic outline on devolution by summer 2010. Governor Wataru Aso of Fukuoka Prefecture and Chairman of the National Governors Association praised the Cabinet’s decision.
The ‘Plan to promote regional devolutionary reform’ consists of the following:
1) Review of duties and functional framework and widening the power of local authorities to set bylaws
2) Establish a statutory framework for a central-local consultation
3) Regional sovereignty reforms implementation strategy
