Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto in mid-February explained his pet idea of creating an Osaka metropolitan government to the local government system panel of the internal affairs ministry. His explanation was still rather vague. He should present a concrete idea as soon as possible so that Osaka city and prefecture residents can study the plan and form their own judgment about his idea.
In the past, he called for creating an "Osaka-to" government by integrating the Osaka city and prefectural governments to carry out efficient wide-area administrative work and services. This idea also called for turning the current 24 wards of Osaka City into eight or nine special wards to concentrate on providing services to residents. But in the material he distributed to the panel, Mr. Hashimoto dropped the word "Osaka-to." Instead, he proposed creating a "new wide-area autonomous body" and "new wards."
He called on the panel to set up a system under which he or other local government heads with a similar idea could flexibly demarcate new wards by considering local situations. He thus opposed the central government's imposing rigid standards for creation of new wards.