JIP Foresees Third Referendum over Osaka Capitial Initiative

Osaka City Assembly, dominated by Osaka Ishin-no Kai, approved a proposal to establish a statutory council for referendum over reforming the City of Osaka and some neighbor cities into a special district, modeling the current system in Tokyo. If the initiative is approved, Osaka will be called “Osaka Metropolitan District,” indicating as if Japan has two capitals. Other local parties including the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) are opposing the proposal, which is driven by local organization of Japan Innovation Party (JIP=Nippon Ishin-no Kai). 

The proposal to make the second capital in Osaka is called Osaka Capital Initiative, originated by former governor of Osaka, Toru Hashimoto, in 2010. The governor of Osaka Prefecture and mayor of Osaka City had two referendums in 2015 and 2020 to introduce special wards in Osaka. The proposal was rejected in each referendum. As Osaka Ishin seriously poured its political energy into this issue, governors of Osaka, Hashimoto and his successor Ichiro Matsui, resigned after their defeats in the referendum.

 

Although current governor of Osaka and the leader of JIP, Hirofumi Yoshimura, announced in 2020 that he would never make another try for Osaka Capital Initiative as a politician, he unilaterally turned it down. He announced that he would run for his third term in the election scheduled in April, 2027, if the referendum on Osaka Capital Initiative is held on the same day.

 

To have the referendum, Osaka Prefectural Assembly and Osaka City Assembly need to approve establishing a statutory council, as stipulated in Metropolitan Special Ward Establishment Act. Following the decision of Osaka City Assembly, Osaka Prefectural Assembly is expected to approve it. Osaka Ishin-no Kai has a majority in both assemblies. The council will be set up as early as mid-June to discuss the details of Osaka Capital Initiative.

 

JIP and LDP agreed on passing a bill for building “backup capital” in the 2026 ordinary session. JIP explains that Osaka Capital Initiative is one thing and backup capital is another. However, the draft by those two parties includes a provision that the backup capital can not only be a prefecture, but a metropolitan district as Tokyo currently is. That may enable the referendum for Osaka Capital Initiative voted not only by the people in Osaka city, but in other cities in Osaka prefecture. Supporters for the initiative is supposed to be more in outside Osaka city.

 

Osaka Ishin-no Kai opposes all other parties, including the LDP, in Osaka region. In two previous referendums for Osaka Capital Initiative, the LDP protested Ishin’s proposal with other parties such as Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, Komeito and even Japan Communist Party. Some LDP lawmakers from Osaka complain the discussion over backup capital bill, because they think that JIP will take advantage of it for Osaka Capital Initiative. JIP’s insistence on the initiative is called “forever rock-paper-scissors until they win” by some lawmakers.

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