A number of local political parties have cropped up of late clamoring for further "decentralization," which would shift much administrative and budgetary authority from the central government to local governments.
The most vocal among these new groups is Osaka Ishin-no Kai (Osaka Restoration Association), headed by Toru Hashimoto, former governor of Osaka Prefecture and current mayor of Osaka City.
The crux of Hashimoto's platform is to transform Osaka Prefecture into Osaka-to, an entity similar to Tokyo-to (the area under the jurisdiction of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government). That would dissolve Osaka City and other cities within Osaka Prefecture and reorganize them into special wards, each of which would have a status similar to Tokyo's wards while leaving some municipal tasks and revenues to the metropolitan government.