Japan's 2,600 towns and villages should be amalgamated to reduce the number of municipalities to around 1,000 to tie in with the planned decentralization of administrative power, according to the new chief of the Home Affairs Ministry.

Toranosuke Katayama, who assumed the post in last week's Cabinet reshuffle, said the national government is prepared to push forward with mergers of local municipalities.

"The 21st century will be the century of local autonomy (in Japan, but) the current local municipalities don't have the ability to handle a task of that scale," Katayama said in an interview.

But the former vice governor of Okayama Prefecture, recognizing that the 1,000 figure could be seen as somewhat sensational, emphasized that the central government will not force local municipalities to merge against their will, saying that the wishes of local governments would be followed to the greatest extent possible.

Katayama, a 65-year-old member of the House of Councilors, joined the Home Affairs Ministry in 1958 and left in 1988 after holding a number of key positions. His first Cabinet post has landed him back in the ministry.

However, his portfolio has been expanded and he concurrently heads the Posts and Telecommunications Ministry and the Management and Coordination Agency. All three entities are to be merged into the Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs and Posts and Telecommunications in the administrative shakeup that is scheduled to take effect on Jan. 6.

During the interview, Katayama argued that some of the nation's smaller municipalities should be merged into city-level bodies with populations of around 10,000 so that they have the capacity to better handle the functions that will be shifted from the central government as the decentralization of administrative power proceeds.

"Cities, towns and villages will be the main bodies dealing with welfare (programs) and public nursing-care insurance," Katayama said.

"Under such circumstances, a certain level of population, financial power and staff will be required," he added.

As posts and telecommunications minister, Katayama is also in charge of overseeing the government's plans to help improve the country's optical fiber network.

The Information Technology Strategy Council, an advisory panel under Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori, has submitted a report urging the government to help provide 10 million households with 24-hour Internet connection through optical fiber networks by 2005.

Katayama said that while the private sector should be the main entity to construct such networks, the ministry may help set up lines in provincial areas that are not as populous as the cities, where private companies may be reluctant to advance.

"There is some room to consider measures like public works" in setting up the Internet connection infrastructure, he said, adding that rural areas should also benefit from the IT revolution.