A government panel on the local autonomy system is discussing what should be the ideal form of municipal government. Through their welfare and education services and community revitalization programs, etc., municipalities are the closest governments to citizens. The panel's discussion focuses on whether to promote mergers of municipalities or not.

Since 2000, central government policy has promoted mergers. The number of municipalities as of Jan. 1, 2009 stood at 1,781, about 45 percent fewer than the 3,232 at the end of March 1999.

The National Association of Towns and Villages says the central government should stop promoting mergers, adding that recent mergers have widened the "distance," both geographical and psychological, between residents and municipal governments. It also says peripheral areas, including areas where municipal government offices used to be, have declined in prosperity. It also points to lower administrative efficiency in some merged municipalities.