Overview
- The Liberal Democratic Party and the Japan Innovation Party submitted a bill to parliament on June 24 to create a secondary capital that could take over Tokyo’s functions in an emergency.
- The draft would decentralize some national administrative and economic roles and links to a long‑standing JIP plan to reorganize Osaka city into Tokyo‑style wards, but the LDP removed a clause that would have let all Osaka Prefecture residents vote on an Osaka city merger.
- The measure is part of an October 2025 coalition pact that the JIP used to back Sanae Takaichi’s government and the prime minister is relying on JIP votes to pass laws in the Upper House.
- Legal scholars have warned that letting prefecture residents outside Osaka City vote on a city merger could violate Article 92 of the Constitution because it would dilute municipal self‑governance.
- With less than a month before the Diet session ends on July 17, lawmakers face a tight timetable and notable resistance inside the LDP, leaving the bill’s debate and final passage uncertain and putting Osaka’s local governance and voters at the center of the fight.