In December 2010, the government adopted an action plan to transfer regional bureaus of central government ministries to local governments to help the latter carry out "comprehensive" administrative work for local residents. But it is unclear whether the proposal made in late December by the government's devolution strategy panel will accomplish the action plan's goal.
The panel proposes that the regional infrastructure bureaus, the regional trade and industry bureaus and the regional environment bureaus be transferred to regional federations each to be made up of several prefectural governments. (The Okinawa and Hokkaido prefectural governments each can form such a federation by itself.) But the proposal includes provisions that the central government ministries can take advantage of to gain footholds in such federations and increase their power.
The proposal says that to oversee the functions transferred, a federation will either appoint a head or set up a board composed of heads of member prefectural governments. A prefectural governor can serve as such a head.