The Lower House on Aug. 10 passed a bill that enables the establishment of new local governments similar to Tokyo Metropolis (Tokyo-to), which consists of the Tokyo metropolitan government and 23 special wards. The Democratic Party of Japan, the Liberal Democratic Party and five other political groups supported the bill. The bill is expected to become law shortly because the Upper House will soon start deliberating it.
Under the bill, special wards can be established in areas that are composed of an ordinance-designated city (a population of at least 500,000 and given more power by a government ordinance than ordinary cities) and other municipalities, and have a total population of 2 million or more. Then such areas will become entities similar to Tokyo-to although they will not be called "to."
In theory, areas in and around 10 ordinance-designated cities in eight prefectures meet the conditions set down by the bill. But only Osaka is ready to take advantage of the bill. Thus in reality, the bill is for reorganizing Osaka Prefecture and Osaka City, a pet plan of Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto. It is not farfetched to say that the bill represents an effort by the seven political groups to please Mr. Hashimoto and gain his political cooperation. His local party, Osaka Ishin-no Kai (Osaka Association for Reform), is expected to advance into national politics in the next Lower House election and to garner a large number of votes from citizens who have become dissatisfied with established major parties.