NCJ Number
129225
Journal
Law and Contemporary Problems Volume: 53 Issue: 1 and 2 Dated: special issue (Winter/Spring 1990) Pages: 123-133
Date Published
1990
Length
11 pages
Annotation
The article examines the theory and practice of the constitutionally prescribed functions of local governments in Japan.
Abstract
The focus of the discussion of national-local relationships is not on the state of local autonomy anticipated at the time of the Constitution's enactment, but on the state of local autonomy as it has evolved. The article begins with a description of how local government has been guaranteed under the 1947 constitution and the circumstances under which the constitution came to include the principle of local autonomy in its provisions. The article then details how those constitutional provisions regarding the local governments have developed in relation to the national government and how centralization of national power and the erosion of local autonomy has become the status quo in postwar Japan. How local governments today are seen to cope with centralized national power is then presented. A discussion of specific ways in which autonomy should be practiced in Japan concludes the article. 27 notes