Which Prefecture Could Become Japan's Secondary Capital?

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As Japan's political center, Tokyo is home to the Prime Minister's Office, the National Diet, and most government ministries.

To ensure the government can continue operating in the event of a major disaster, a secondary capital would serve as a backup administrative center if Tokyo were severely disrupted.

A law establishing a framework for designating secondary capitals passed the Diet on July 24. To qualify, municipalities must meet requirements for their administrative structures and other conditions set by Cabinet order.

On the same day the law was passed, the governors of Hokkaido, Aichi, Osaka and Fukuoka expressed their ambitions for their prefectures to be designated as secondary capitals.

What It Takes to Qualify

Under the law, candidate prefectures will be assessed based on factors including population and economic scale. They must also be unlikely to suffer damage from the same disaster affecting the Tokyo metropolitan area.

The government will also consider whether a region hosts key national institutions and has the administrative capacity to take on additional responsibilities.

In addition, prefectural and municipal governments must demonstrate that they can cooperate smoothly during an emergency. There are two ways to meet this requirement.

Two Approaches to Administrative Coordination

One is through a partnership agreement under the Local Autonomy Act. This applies to ordinance-designated cities such as Osaka and Fukuoka.

These are Japan's largest cities and have been granted authority over some functions normally handled by prefectural governments, resulting in overlapping administrative responsibilities.

Under this approach, the prefecture and city agree in advance on how to divide responsibilities. Fukuoka Prefecture and Fukuoka City are pursuing this option, although the need for consultation on individual issues could slow decision-making.

The other option would be to reorganize an ordinance-designated city into special wards modeled on Tokyo's 23 wards and transfer broad administrative functions to the prefectural government.

Osaka Prefecture and Osaka City previously pursued this approach, but voters rejected the plan in referendums held in 2015 and 2020. Creating special wards would require another referendum and could take years.

A third option has also been proposed. During the special Diet session that ended on July 25, the Democratic Party for the People submitted a bill to establish a "special city" system.

Under the proposal, an ordinance-designated city would become administratively independent from its prefecture. The bill is still under deliberation.