TOKYO - Legislation to establish a "second capital" to serve as a backup for Tokyo's core functions and decentralize economic activity went into effect Friday, paving the way for eligible prefectures to apply for designation.
The law is a pillar of the coalition agreement signed a year ago by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's Liberal Democratic Party and its junior ally, the Osaka-based Japan Innovation Party, which aims to reorganize the western Japan city into a metropolis like Tokyo by introducing special wards.
The government is expected to announce in November its basic approach to second capital status and a timetable for its designation.
According to the legislation, a second capital is intended to allow for continuity of national and social functions in the event of a large-scale disaster, and to decentralize Japan's economic activities away from its capital region.
Areas designated as secondary capitals will also be eligible for regulatory easing and tax incentives to encourage private investment.
The law allows the prime minister to designate a backup capital based on applications from prefectures. It does not limit the number of second capitals to one, leaving open the possibility that multiple prefectures could be designated.
Hokkaido in northern Japan, Aichi in central Japan, Osaka in the west and Fukuoka in the southwest have said they intend to apply for the status.
An ordinance setting requirements for a second capital was approved by the government on Tuesday.
Conditions include that a prefecture accounts for at least 2.1 percent of Japan's gross domestic product and contains a city with at least 1.2 percent of the country's population.
On an administrative level, applicants would have to reorganize a government-designated city into special wards or reach a cooperation agreement between a city and its prefecture.
The ordinance also says a backup capital should be located outside areas at risk of severe damage from a major earthquake in the Tokyo area or an eruption of Mt. Fuji, Japan's highest peak, which straddles Yamanashi and Shizuoka prefectures west of Tokyo.
