An advisory council to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government recommended Tuesday that the government disclose all information regarding its "social expenses," including monetary outlays for funerals and other ceremonial occasions.
The council also recommended that such expenses not be made for public servants, as such budget outlays "would not gain the understanding of taxpayers." The metropolitan government asked the council, headed by Kiyoji Murata, professor emeritus at Chuo University, for consultation in 1997 after it lost an information-disclosure lawsuit on social expenses at the Tokyo High Court.
The government had refused to disclose any information on the expenses, but the high court ordered it to make public all information except for the names of individuals involved. While the metropolitan government appealed to the Supreme Court, it changed its policy and now discloses information except for names, positions and titles of individuals.
In 1996, the governor, bureau and department chiefs spent 55 million yen in social expenses. The metropolitan government plans to compile new guidelines for the expenses by the end of this fiscal year.