47 Todōfuken no Chihō Jichi: ‘Shichōson e no Kengen Ijō’ ni miru Seido Unyō no Hikaku Kenkyū (Local Governance in the 47 Prefectures: Comparative Analysis of Institutional Operations in the Transfer of Authority to Municipalities)

Abstract

In the postwar Japanese political world, decentralization of power was an issue primarily championed by opposition parties and scholars and journalists critical of ruling administrations. The constitution that took effect in 1947 included a section on “Local Self-Government,” which provided for the election of assemblies and local chief executives. Consequently, in comparison to other countries, decentralization of power has been accorded a fair degree of emphasis in Japan, and the political autonomy of local governments vis-à-vis the central government is well protected. The absence of a corresponding level of administrative and financial autonomy has long been noted, however. There were entities within the central government that recognized the importance of decentralization, the Ministry of Home Affairs foremost among them. Acting in opposition to the Ministry of Finance and other government institutions, the Ministry of Home Affairs sought to enhance local governmental autonomy, mainly in the financial realm, by arranging for tax revenue to be allocated to local governments (Kitamura 2009). In addition, the Ministry of Home Affairs recognized that local governments were often hampered by inadequate administrative capacity. The ministry helped address this situation via policies enabling it to place some of its own bureaucrats in key administrative positions in many prefectures and ordinance-designated cities and establish a system for approving local government bonds to provide financial resources (Doi 2007).