Japan Prefectures Asked to Pay Half of Free School Meal Costs

Tokyo, Dec. 9 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s ruling camp and opposition party Komeito proposed Tuesday that the central and prefectural governments each bear half the cost of making elementary school meals free from April next year. The ruling bloc of the Liberal Democratic Party and the Japan Innovation Party (Nippon Ishin no Kai) and Komeito made the proposal to the National Governors’ Association. The association will discuss its response by the end of this week and respond to the three parties. The free meal program is expected to cost a total of around 300 billion yen. The Japanese government and ruling camp are considering easing prefectural governments’ cost burden through allocations of central government tax revenue. The three parties also proposed a system under which the central government would cover three-quarters of the expenses and prefectural governments one-quarter for making private high school tuition free from fiscal 2026. Former education minister Masahiko Shibayama of the LDP, representing the three parties’ working-level officials, met Tottori Governor Shinji Hirai, who also serves as the association’s vice president, in parliament. “To be honest, I still have doubts about whether there will really be no additional burden and how the financial resources will be secured,” Hirai told reporters after the meeting. The association has compiled a statement demanding that if the national government implements nationwide free school meals, it should assume full responsibility for covering all costs. The LDP, the JIP and Komeito agreed in February to implement the free meal measure from fiscal 2026. Even after Komeito ended its coalition partnership with the LDP in October, the three parties have been discussing the free meal program. However, they have been unable to present details of the scheme, including who pays for it. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]