Osaka Adopts Plan to Create 4 Wards under Metropolis Project

Osaka, Aug. 8 (Jiji Press)–The prefectural and municipal governments of Osaka, western Japan, have adopted a plan to realign the prefectural capital’s current 24 wards into four special wards under the so-called Osaka metropolis administrative reform project. The decision was made at Friday’s meeting of the statutory committee on the realignment project, held at the Osaka municipal government office. The prefecture and the city of Osaka plan to hold a third local referendum on the metropolis plan in the capital city in autumn 2027. It was rejected in the two previous referendums, in 2015 and 2020. Under the statutory committee, regional political party Osaka Ishin no Kai studied three options for the metropolis plan–reorganizing the current 24 wards into four or eight special wards, and allowing the existing wards to become 24 special wards without changing the borders. The party concluded that the option to create four wards is the best in that the population and economic gaps between them would not be large and fiscal stability would be secured. Based on data as of October 2025, the populations of the four special wards are expected to range from about 530,000 to 880,000, similar to the level for an ordinance-designated major city. Still, some in Osaka Ishin are concerned about the option because a plan to create four special wards was turned down in the 2020 referendum. Under the new plan, the borders for the envisaged special wards were partially changed from the 2020 plan. Osaka Ishin leader Hirofumi Yoshimura, also governor of the prefecture, praised the new plan in talks with reporters after Friday’s statutory committee meeting, saying that “it will be able to realize better administrative services for residents.” The council is set to discuss how to split the related administrative work between the Osaka prefectural government and the planned four special wards, the names of the wards and the number of seats on the assembly of each ward. It aims to reach an agreement by the end of this year. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]