Publication
Japan’s local governments and governance under population decline
In this chapter, Kohei Suzuki aims to provide a brief overview of Japan’s local government system, including an examination of the significant challenges they face.
- Author
- Kohei Suzuki
- Date
- 04 March 2024
- Links
- Read the full chapter here
The local government system of Japan operates on a two-tiered structure, with prefectures serving as regional governments and municipalities serving as local governments. This chapter provides a brief historical overview and institutional features of local governments in Japan and discusses several topics, including leadership selection, local civil servants, municipal merger, and demographic decline.
Despite Japan’s long history of democracy, developed economy, and unique political and administrative contexts, Japanese local governments still have been understudied in a way that tests and develops existing general public administration and management theories with a comparative perspective. Japan’s case suggests several significant potential research questions. One such question includes examining the effects of political leadership on municipal performance. Although mayors’ authority and power are said to be strong in previous studies, bureaucracies in Japanese local governments seem to be highly meritocratic, relatively autonomous, and insulated from political influence from a comparative perspective. Furthermore, compared to bureaucracies in less developed countries, Japanese local governments have higher administrative capacities and enjoy administrative stability. In that context, to what extent does the leadership of mayors influence municipal performance?