When Osaka Gov. Ichiro Matsui and his sidekick, Osaka Mayor Hirofumi Yoshimura, announced they would resign their positions to run for each other's seats next month, local reactions ranged from disbelief to exasperation.
Osaka politics has always been, to put it politely, different from more predictable local varieties elsewhere. Still, the decision by Matsui and Yoshimura to cut their terms short — originally, elections were set to take place in November — and try to switch chairs as a way to gauge voter support for their municipal merger efforts is a strange move.
Matsui justifies it by saying another election would be required in November under the law if he and Yoshimura just resigned and ran again for the same posts. This way, if they run for, and win, each other's positions, Osaka, Kansai and the rest of the country can enjoy four more years of the "Matsui and Yoshimura Variety Show." Given talk among some LDP heavyweights of keeping Prime Minister Shinzo Abe around until 2024, why shouldn't Matsui and Yoshimura also try to extend their time in office?