By The Straits Times | Created at 2026-06-24 09:51:45 | Updated at 2026-06-24 11:04:12
1 hour ago
TOKYO – Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and its junior coalition partner submitted on June 24 a Bill to Parliament to establish a “second capital” to serve as a backup for Tokyo’s core functions in times of disasters or other emergencies, and to decentralise power.
The LDP and the Osaka-based Japan Innovation Party (JIP) aim for the Bill’s enactment by the current Diet session’s end on July 17. It would add impetus to the JIP’s drive to reorganise the western Japan city into a metropolis like Tokyo by introducing special wards.
Legislation for the second capital system is among agreements under the coalition deal signed by the LDP, led by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, and the JIP in October. The JIP’s backing helped her get elected in Parliament as Japan’s first female premier the following day.
The centre-right JIP’s Osaka metropolis plan, also aimed at streamlining administrative functions, faced opposition from the LDP in two referenda in the city in 2015 and 2020, both of which rejected the initiative by narrow margins.
Apparently to increase the likelihood of a new referendum passing, the JIP had earlier sought to expand its scope to include voters across Osaka Prefecture, and the Bill initially included a supplementary provision allowing such a prefecture-wide referendum.
In a JIP concession to the LDP, however, the provision was dropped after some LDP members said that a prefecture-wide vote to decide the city’s future could run counter to the principle of autonomy guaranteed under the Constitution.
Amid Takaichi’s popularity, the LDP-JIP camp won a landslide victory in the House of Representatives election in February with more than three-quarters of the lower chamber’s seats, well above the two-thirds threshold required to override the House of Councillors to push through Bills. KYODO NEWS
