＜prologue＞
I started a blog called “The Baby Boomer Generation’s Miscellaneous Blog”（Dankai-sedai no garakutatyou:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳） in July 2018, about a year before I fully retired. More than six years have passed since then, and the number of articles has increased considerably.
So, in order to make them accessible to people who don’t understand Japanese, I decided to translate my past articles into English and publish them.
It may sound a bit exaggerated, but I would like to make this my life’s work.
It should be noted that haiku and waka （Japanese short fixed form poems） are quite difficult to translate into English, so some parts are written in Japanese.
If you are interested in haiku or waka and would like to know more, please read introductory or specialized books on haiku or waka written in English.
I also write many articles about the Japanese language. I would be happy if these inspire more people to want to learn Japanese.
my blog’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳 | 団塊世代が雑学や面白い話を発信しています
my X’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多帳（@historia49）さん / X
<Note added on 11/2/2020> “Osaka Metropolis Plan” was again rejected in the second referendum by a narrow margin.
The result of the referendum on 11/1/2020 was again rejected by a margin of about 17,000 votes, eliminating the possibility of the “Osaka Metropolis Plan” becoming a reality.
（１）Factors Again Rejected
①Status quo bias kicked in.
Currently, the governors and mayors of both Osaka Prefecture and Osaka City are members of the “Restoration Association” and have established a strong cooperative relationship, and the majority of council members are also members of the “Restoration Association.” This means that more people believe that the current system should gradually eliminate the dual administration.
②The opposition’s publicity strategy of stoking a sense of crisis that “Osaka City will be lost” was successful.
Opponents have gained the sympathy of many residents through “negative publicity of the metropolitan government concept,” which inflames a sense of crisis that “Osaka City will disappear,” “residents’ services will be reduced,” and “costs will increase.
③It was hard to understand what the metropolitan plan was.
The content of the metropolitan government plan itself was difficult to understand, and the benefits of becoming the Osaka Metropolis were not always clearly demonstrated.
（２）The Way Forward for the Governor and Mayor of Osaka Prefecture (My Proposal)
①Reduction in the number of council members, reduction in compensation, and reduction in staff salaries
From now on, I hope that “Osaka Prefecture and Osaka City” will reduce the number of council members and lower their remuneration, and that “Osaka Prefecture and Osaka City” will reduce the salaries of their employees, and that “Osaka Prefecture and Osaka City” will lower their resident taxes.
Employees of Osaka Prefecture and Osaka City, which are equivalent to “loss-making companies,” should be paid salaries “below the average of small and medium-sized companies,” and restructuring of council members would naturally be the first thing a private company would do.
②Gradually eliminating the disadvantages of dual government
Although drastic reforms such as the “Osaka Metropolis Plan” could not be realized, I hope that while the “Restoration Association” is in the majority, they will work steadily to eliminate the disadvantages of the dual government.
③Ensure staff are cost-conscious and goal-oriented
As in the case of the comment that “fewer staff will result in less service to residents” and “I oppose reflecting achievement test scores in salaries,” we see a “lack of cost and goal consciousness” that would be unthinkable in the private sector.
I would like to see the “Restoration Association” thoroughly rehabilitate the awareness of Osaka Prefecture and Osaka City officials.
<9/3/2020 postscript> Second referendum on the “Osaka Metropolis Plan” is to be held.
On 9/3/2020, the “Agreement (blueprint) for the Osaka Metropolis Concept” was passed and approved by the Osaka City Council. 8/28/2020, the Osaka Prefectural Assembly has already approved the plan, and the second referendum will be held. The municipal election management committee will make a decision on September 7.
Voting for the “unified local elections” will be held on April 7 this year, and in Osaka, the “Osaka Prefectural Governor Election” and the “Osaka City Mayor Election” will be held.
The Osaka Restoration Association is running for office with incumbent Osaka Governor Matsui and Osaka Mayor Yoshimura switching the prefectural and municipal offices, both of whom were elected to realize the “Osaka Metropolis Concept” by holding another “referendum” on the issue.
The LDP, Komeito, and other parties other than the Osaka Restoration Association are still in the preliminary stages of discussions at the legal council, so I honestly feel that the Osaka Metropolis concept is difficult to understand because there is no final, boiled-down version.
The Osaka Metropolis concept is often said to be “difficult to understand,” but I would like to take a closer look at it as far as I can understand it.
１．What is the “Osaka Metropolis Concept?
（1）how it started
With a population of approximately 2.66 million, Osaka City is the second largest city in Japan. As a result, the City of Osaka has a very large amount of authority, as much as Osaka Prefecture.
As a result, Osaka City has become like a “bipolar system” of Osaka Prefecture and Osaka City, which has the adverse effects of wasteful “double administration” and a lack of alignment between the prefectural and municipal governments due to differing opinions.
For more than 50 years since Osaka City was designated as an ordinance-designated city in 1956 and had the same administrative authority as Osaka Prefecture, “Osaka Prefectural Government” and “Osaka City Hall” have been “dog-and-bull buddies”.
The phrase “Prefecture and city together（hu-si-awase) are unhappy(husiawase)＜「府市合わせは不幸せ」＞” was coined to make fun of the long history of dragging each other down.
The “Osaka Restoration Association,” led by Toru Hashimoto, who served as governor and mayor of Osaka Prefecture, proposed the “Osaka Metropolis” concept to rectify this situation.
（2）summary
① Osaka City will be dismantled and divided into four to six special wards (similar to the 23 wards of Tokyo).
In other words, the existing system of “Osaka Prefecture, Osaka City, and other municipalities in the prefecture” will be replaced with “Osaka Prefecture, five special wards, and other municipalities in the prefecture,” not with the creation of “Osaka Metropolis.
②220 billion yen per year of “Osaka citizens’” taxes flow out to “Osaka Prefecture,” leaving a small portion for the rest to be used for the benefit of all Osaka residents.
The problem is that Osaka City has a huge amount of tax revenues and has been wasting a lot of money. This is where the problem of “vested interests” of “Osaka citizens,” “Osaka City employees and labor unions,” and “Osaka City Council members” seems to come into play.
③Reduce all kinds of wasteful expenses, including cutting the salaries of Osaka City employees.
For example, the average annual salary of a city bus driver in Osaka City is said to be 7.4 million yen, or one out of every five drivers was over 10 million yen. It is no wonder that the Osaka City Transportation Bureau is going bankrupt. I have also heard that a garbage cleaner who worked for the City of Osaka had an annual income of 15 million yen.
This seems to bring up the issue of the “vested rights” of the “Osaka City Employees and Labor Union”.
④The realization of the above items ① through ③ will help Osaka Prefecture to rebuild its finances.
It is said that there will be an effect of cost reduction of 400 billion yen per year. However, I think a more detailed explanation of the estimates is necessary.
⑤The problem remains that the population ratio of the special wards is 70% for the 23 wards of Tokyo, while 30% for the 4-6 wards of Osaka.
However, in terms of this population ratio, I believe that Osaka could discuss and consider absorbing the surrounding satellite cities into the special wards to become “Greater Osaka” just like “Greater Tokyo”.
Initially, there was an Osaka Metropolis concept that included Sakai City, but it was dropped due to opposition from Sakai Mayor Takeyama. Mayor Takeyama is now in a tight spot over a “political fund issue,” but he was formerly a senior Osaka prefectural government official who was elected mayor of Sakai with the support of Toru Hashimoto.
However, even in that case, it is expected that the issue of “vested interests” of residents, “chiefs” and “aldermen” of the surrounding satellite cities will come into play.
２．Advantages and Disadvantages of the “Osaka Metropolis Concept
（1）Advantages
①Eliminate double government.
Elimination of wasteful spending and return to fiscal surplus
②Public Election of Ward Mayors
By dividing the city into 4 to 6 special wards and electing a “ward mayor” for each, it will be easier for the voices of local residents to be reflected in politics.
③Improvement of the unity of wide-area administration
By reducing the power of the powerful Osaka City, the stagnation of administration and waste caused by the existing conflict between Osaka City and Osaka Prefecture can be reduced as much as possible.
④Increasing Cost Consciousness
A good opportunity to ensure that Osaka City and Osaka Prefecture employees are “cost-conscious”.
（2）Disadvantages
①Reorganization costs.
Approx. 60 billion yen “initial cost” to move to 4 to 6 special districts
②drain of most of Osaka City’s financial resources.
This has led to fierce resistance from opposing forces with vested interests
③Differential occurrence of administrative service levels.
<2019/12/10 postscript> “Osaka Metropolis Plan” basic policy proposal to be voted on 2019/12/26.
The “Legal Council” , which discusses the institutional design of the “Osaka Metropolis Plan,” was held on December 10, and the Osaka Restoration Association and the Komeito Party agreed on the allocation of financial resources between Osaka Prefecture and the special wards, effectively settling on the institutional design.
The draft of the basic policy for the “Osaka Metropolis Concept,” which divides the city into four wards: Yodogawa (the original East and West Wards), Kita, Chuo, and Tennoji (the original South Ward), will be voted on at the statutory meeting on December 26. Since the Restoration and New Komeito parties have a majority of votes, passage is assured.
Under the previous proposal, the city would transfer approximately 200 billion yen of its annual revenue of 860 billion yen (based on fiscal 2004 accounts), including citizen taxes and fixed asset taxes, to the prefecture as part of the transfer of some of the operations of Osaka City to Osaka Prefecture. In response to this, the New Komeito Party, at the statutory meeting in November, requested that the allocation to the special wards be increased in order to “maintain and expand services for residents.
One of the points that Komeito appreciated as an advance from the previous proposal was the inclusion of a 37 billion yen allocation of financial resources from Osaka Prefecture to the special wards over a 10-year period. The breakdown is 20 billion yen for “government building maintenance and system renovation” and 17 billion yen for “expenses for municipal high schools paid from the city’s general funds.
The schedule for the future is to start “drafting the agreement” and “preliminary discussions with the government” in January 2020, hold “on-site meetings” to listen to residents’ opinions in March~April, and “finalize the agreement” in April~June.
If Komei agrees, it is certain to win a majority in both the prefectural and city assemblies, and a “referendum will be held” in November~December 2020.