Abstract
The centralization of political, administrative, and fiscal power in the national government has been a critical feature shaping Japan’s post-war political economy. During much of this period, greater local power was sold to the public as a panacea that would improve administrative efficiency, revitalize local economies, and deepen democracy. Despite substantial decentralization reforms since 1995, these promised benefits have not materialized. Ken Hijino shows how the ideas of decentralization and local power have changed, specifically in the way it has been publically promoted by the political leadership to Japanese voters since the 1990s. What emerges over the 20-year period is a process in which decentralization has largely lost its legitimacy and potency as an idea of political reform.
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Notes
- 1.
Published in Chuo koron. May 2014, entitled “Stop rapid depopulation society: realizing the people’s desired fertility rate and creation of core regional cities” authored by Masuda Hiroya (former minister of Internal Affairs and Communications) and his research team from the Japan Policy Council.
- 2.
Decentralization, although defined variously in different contexts, generally refers to the process of transferring power and responsibility over policies from the national level to the local level. The process is invariably tied to concerns about the legitimate role of local power and intricately tied to the question: “what should be the powers and capabilities of local government in modern states?” (Page and Goldsmith 1987, p. 1).
- 3.
See Narumi (1994) for a discussion of the decentralization debate between 1955 and 1993.
- 4.
These reforms of central and local government relations occurred alongside electoral system and campaign finance reform (1995), administrative reform of central ministries (1998), and measures to strengthen the prime minister and his cabinet (2001). Together, these formed a web of institutional reforms that fundamentally altered Japan’s political system during its so-called “lost decades” (1990–2010).
- 5.
See Ikawa (2008) for a survey of the period.
- 6.
See Hasunuma (2012) for details on decentralization under the DPJ.
- 7.
Data after 2011 are not yet available. See Naikakufu Keizai shakai sogo kenkyujo report in July 2014, Heisei 23 nendo kenmin keizai keisan ni tsuite.
- 8.
The authors also provide data demonstrating an exceedingly high concentration of business, cultural, and educational assets in Tokyo compared to other developed democracies even after the period of decentralization reform (Tachibanaki and Urakawa 2012).
- 9.
Cabinet Office survey: Shakai ishiki ni kansuru seron chosa, January 2014.
- 10.
White Paper on Land, Infrastructure, and Transport in Japan, 2006.
- 11.
- 12.
The referenced election programs (manifestos) in this section are indicated by the party and year of election in parenthesis: for example, LDP 2005.
- 13.
See the local government association’s homepage for their statements during this period. (http://www.bunken.nga.gr.jp/trend/sanmi.html; retrieved February 22, 2015).
- 14.
Sanmi ittai kaikaku ni kansuru kinkyu teigen. November 15, 2004. Zenkoku todofukengikai gichokai.
- 15.
Sanmi ittai kaikaku no suishin ni kansuru kinkyu apiru. April 14, 2006. Zenkoku shichokai.
- 16.
Sanmi ittai kaikaku ni kansuru kinkyu teigen ni tsuite. Kyoto Maruoka mayor Tanaka Hideo.
- 17.
Prime Minister Fukuda Yasuo’s general policy speech at the opening of the 168th Diet session in 2007.
- 18.
YP was disbanded in November 2014, with many of its members joining the JRP which was later renamed the Japan Innovation Party.
- 19.
A large body of research argues that decentralization does not necessarily result in many of the benefits claimed by its proponents and that its outcome depends largely on how and under what conditions it is implemented. See Treisman (2007) for a discussion of this.
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Hijino, K.V.L. (2016). Selling the Idea of Local Power: Decentralization Reforms Since the 1990s. In: Steel, G. (eds) Power in Contemporary Japan. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-59193-7_13
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