Overview
- Yoshimura Hirofumi said the newly agreed LDP–Ishin draft on a “deputy-capital” system would allow an Osaka Metropolis referendum to include all of Osaka Prefecture rather than only Osaka City.
- He linked the plan to renaming Osaka Prefecture as “Osaka-to” and to a fresh referendum on dissolving Osaka City into special wards, which would let suburban residents help decide how services and authority shift to the prefectural level.
- The draft creates two types of backups for Tokyo in major disasters, setting out capital-function-alternative regions and deputy-capitals while excluding places likely to be hit at the same time as Tokyo, including the Tokyo area and three prefectures in the Mt. Fuji hazard zone.
- To qualify as a deputy-capital, a region must host key national branch offices, meet set economic and population thresholds, and have a defined local setup such as special wards or a prefecture–designated city pact, after which the prime minister can designate it on a prefecture’s request and unlock national support.
- The agreement is a bill outline rather than enacted law, with LDP and Ishin seeking passage this Diet session, and Yoshimura pushing to form a statutory council to draft the institutional plan and decide whether any third referendum is city-only or prefecture-wide.