Japan witnessed a boom of municipal mergers between 1999 and 2006. Duringthat period, the number of municipalities was reduced from 3,232 to 1,820. TheGreat Mergers of the Heisei Period, as they have become known, took place withina framework of extensive decentralization reforms in which the...

Dur country should seriously consider the fact that byprioritizing economic development, it has accorded insuffieientattention to such essential goals as the improvementof the livelihoods of our individual eitizens, thewealth of the human spirit, and soeial justice ... In responseto demands for...