Osaka Mayor Ichiro Matsui said Saturday he wants to hold a referendum around the fall of 2020 on whether to restructure the city into a metropolis like Tokyo in a bid to cut governance costs.
The "Osaka metropolis" plan was rejected in a referendum in 2015. But Matsui and his political group have been gaining momentum to revive the plan since they scored victories in key local elections held in April and some opponents showed signs of an about-face.
"I want to have (a referendum) in around a year and a half," Matsui told reporters.