Japan Reducing Govt Councils

Tokyo, Dec. 27 (Jiji Press)–Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s administration is merging and abolishing councils that its predecessors set up within the Cabinet Secretariat and the Cabinet Office one after another. The councils, established to implement key policies under the leadership of the prime minister’s office, have led to bloated organizations. In addition, many have gone dormant. Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara has instructed that these bodies be reviewed, aiming for a significant reduction. The government is examining the idea of setting up for future councils a sunset clause to automatically eliminate them if they meet preset conditions. As of Nov. 26, 2025, the Cabinet Secretariat alone had 88 councils headed by the prime minister or the chief cabinet secretary, up from 39 in January 2015. The Takaichi administration, inaugurated in October this year, has abolished the New Form of Capitalism Realization Headquarters, established by then Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s administration. This body was replaced by the Headquarters for Japan’s Growth Strategy, designed to realize a “strong” economy Takaichi advocate. Her administration is trying to strengthen the function of the prime minister’s office by launching councils covering a wide range of areas, such as a population strategy, a policy on foreign nationals and measures against damage inflicted by bears. Meanwhile, some councils have not met for more than two years. The Council for the Creation of Future Education has been dormant since it made a proposal in April 2023. A meeting of related ministers to address hay fever has not been held in person since October 2023. An increase in councils has put related operations under strain while causing inefficiency. Although the number of staff at the Cabinet Secretariat has risen 1.4 times to about 1,550 over the past 10 years, some officials need to cover multiple councils, and they are often told to report on the situations even if their councils are dormant. Therefore, there are calls for the introduction of a sunset rule to abolish councils on condition that they have achieved their objectives or their meetings have not been held for a certain period. “It’s important to constantly review administrative affairs,” Kihara told a news conference Thursday. “We will carry it out firmly.” The government reduced councils in the past. In 2016, the cabinet of then Prime Minister Shinzo Abe transferred some related administrative work to government agencies. Under the Kishida administration in 2023, Taro Kono, who was administrative reform minister, took the lead in deciding to abolish 17 ministerial councils. A senior official at the prime minister’s office voiced eagerness to “boldly abolish” councils although some of them had been strongly supported by past administrations. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]