Giving more power to local governments is one of the Democratic Party of Japan's main election promises. The Hatoyama administration and local governments on Feb. 18 agreed on a draft of a bill giving legal backing to a planned policy forum in which concerned Cabinet ministers and local government leaders will discuss relevant policy measures. The central government will immediately start writing a bill based on the draft. It hopes to submit the bill to the Diet in March and to inaugurate the forum in April to better reflect views of local governments in policy measures.
It will be significant that leaders of local governments can express their opinions to the central government on policy measures that affect prefectures and municipalities at the planning stage in a forum that has legally defined functions.
It is also significant that the new forum, even if it is intended to increase the power of local governments, will not be imposed by the central government on local governments. Representatives from the central and local governments discussed the shape and functions of the planned forum from the first and jointly wrote the draft.