In 2012 a new law was passed by Japan’s national parliament to allow urban areas (see ‘New law for Japanese megacities’) to shift to a new form of metropolitan wider area governance from 2015, should local governments and their citizens want this. Subsequently a referendum was held under the law in the city of Osaka this month, which ultimately saw city voters narrowly reject a plan by the city and prefectural leaders to reconfigure its two-tier system into a more streamlined metropolitan government.
Aside from the debate in Osaka on the pros and cons of a more streamlined metropolitan government (which would have been based on merging the existing 24 administrative subdivisions into five new elected municipal bodies), last year the Japanese government pursued other local government reforms aimed at both promoting decentralization and preparing for depopulation amid an ageing society, in the form of revision of the national Local Autonomy Law (LAL, which sets out constitutional guarantees and conditions for local governance).
Previously (since 1996) Japan’s cities were arranged into a formalised hierarchy by population under which powers and responsibilities in certain fields are cascaded from the prefectural level (e.g. public health, social welfare and urban planning), known as Designated Cities, Core Cities and Special Cities.
The 20 Designated Cities (first created in 1956), which must have populations above 700,000 and be approved by the Cabinet, in particular were required to subdivide themselves into legally arranged units known as ‘wards’ to carry out basic local functions such as tax collection and resident registration, which act in the name of the city mayor in carrying out their executive functions, each headed by an appointed chief officer from within the municipal government (who is appointed solely by the city mayor).
Under the reforms introduced, Designated Cities may now replace the previously limited wards system with new ‘comprehensive wards’, which can receive delegated authority and functions from the municipal government by decree of the city assembly, which also approve appointment by the city mayor of executive heads at ward level from outside the city government (who in turn can manage their own personnel independently of the city’s HR department, as well as have the right to be consulted on the mayor’s annual budget at ward level).
Furthermore, under the recent LAL revision, the status of Special City (previously set in 1995 at 200,000 pop. and above) is now folded into that of the Core Cities, which are open to municipalities of 200,000 or more (previously 300,000). Contrasted to Designated Cities and ordinary municipalities, the Core Cities enjoy an intermediate degree of conferred authority (e.g. food safety, building permits, nursery/care home licensing).
The reforms also aim to increase coordination between the tiers at elected head level (city mayor and prefectural governor) through a formal consultation mechanism overseen by the national Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC), as this had previously not existed (the overlapping jurisdictions at Designated City and Prefecture level was one of the main criticisms of those behind the Osaka plan).
Under the new system, at the initiative of either the city mayor or prefectural governor a binding meeting can be convened to discuss more effective coordination of policies at the local level, with the ministry available to appoint an independent mediator between the two if no effective resolution can be obtained. To further resolve any dispute the MIC Minister may then issue a recommendation to both parties aimed at an informed bipartite solution.
Finally, the revision of the LAL provides statutory backing for the recent trend towards regional wider area cooperation between municipalities and prefectures. Under this municipalities and prefectures are able to register agreements on mutual cooperation through strategies which can provide for wider area delivery of public services across several municipalities in order to achieve both economies of scale and continue service levels in sparsely populated areas.
This also modifies arrangements where municipalities can transfer responsibility for service provision to neighbouring municipalities, allowing them to restrict the transfer to more specific service areas and also protect the municipality’s rights to input over how the service will be delivered in their area.
Terms used in Japanese:
Designated City – Seirei Shitei Toshi
Core City – Chukaku-shi
Special City – Tokurei-shi
Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications – Somusho
Minister – Daijin
