The , also referred to as One Osaka, is a regional political party in
Osaka Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Osaka Prefecture has a population of 8,778,035 () and has a geographic area of . Osaka Prefecture borders Hyōgo Prefecture to the northwest, Kyoto Prefecture to the north, Nar ...
,
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...
. Founded in 2010 by then-
Governor
A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...
Tōru Hashimoto
is a Japanese TV personality, politician and lawyer. He was the mayor of Osaka city and is a member of Nippon Ishin no Kai and the Osaka Restoration Association. He is one of Japan's leading right-wing conservative-populist politicians.
Early ...
, its main platform is pursuing the
Osaka Metropolis plan of merging the prefecture and some of its cities into "One Osaka", reducing overlapping bureaucratic organizations of
the prefecture and the city of
Osaka
is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of ...
, towards
Dōshūsei
is a proposal to organize Japan into one circuit (''dō'') of Hokkaido and several new states (''shū'') that are each a combination of several prefectures. The states and circuit are proposed to have greater regional autonomy, similar to the Un ...
.
The party is a major force in the politics within Osaka Prefecture, with the party holding the most seats in the
Osaka Prefectural Assembly, Osaka City Assembly and
Sakai City Assembly, as well as the positions of
Governor of Osaka and mayor of three cities within the prefecture (Osaka,
Moriguchi
is a city located in Osaka Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 142,655 in 73353 households and a population density of 11,000 persons per km². The total area of the city is .
Geography
Moriguchi borders the northea ...
and
Hirakata).
History
Hashimoto, a lawyer and popular TV personality, was elected Governor of Osaka in
January 2008 with the support of the local branches of the
Liberal Democratic Party and
New Komeito
, formerly New Komeito and abbreviated NKP, is a conservative political party in Japan founded by lay members of the Buddhist Japanese new religious movement Soka Gakkai in 1964. Since 2012, it has served in government as the junior coalit ...
. However, his support for the Osaka Metropolis plan and the restructuring of Japan's 47 prefectures into a few number of geographically large regions saw him face opposition from the mayors of Osaka and Sakai cities. In face of this opposition and frustrated with the lack of attention given to the issues by the major parties at the national level, Hashimoto announced his intention to form a regional party that would focus on the betterment of Osaka.
In February 2009, Hashimoto's plan for the prefecture to purchase the
Osaka World Trade Center Building from the city and relocate the prefectural government offices into the building was defeated in the prefectural assembly. Following this, a faction of six assembly members led by
Ichirō Matsui
is a Japanese businessman and politician who is the current mayor of Osaka, leader of the Osaka Restoration Association (ORA) and one of the presidents of Nippon Ishin no Kai alongside Nobuyuki Baba.
Early life
Matsui attended public elementary ...
, who was supported by Hashimoto, formed the . By April 2010 the group had broken away from the Liberal Democratic Party and expanded to 22 members. On 19 April 2010 it was officially registered as the Osaka Restoration Association with 30 members.
In the
unified local elections in April 2011, the Osaka Restoration Association won an outright majority in the prefectural assembly and became strongest party in the assemblies of both Osaka City and Sakai City. On November 27, 2011, in an unprecedented double election, Hashimoto and Secretary-General
Ichirō Matsui
is a Japanese businessman and politician who is the current mayor of Osaka, leader of the Osaka Restoration Association (ORA) and one of the presidents of Nippon Ishin no Kai alongside Nobuyuki Baba.
Early life
Matsui attended public elementary ...
were elected as Mayor of
Osaka
is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of ...
City and Governor of
Osaka Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Osaka Prefecture has a population of 8,778,035 () and has a geographic area of . Osaka Prefecture borders Hyōgo Prefecture to the northwest, Kyoto Prefecture to the north, Nar ...
respectively.
When the
Japan Restoration Association
The , also referred to in English as the Japan Restoration Association, was a Japanese political party. It was launched on 12 September 2012 and gained official recognition on 28 September 2012. The party grew from the regional Osaka Restoration ...
, also headed by Hashimoto and Matsui, was founded in 2012 it was announced that the Osaka organization would come under the umbrella of the national party.
In the Sakai city mayoral election held in September 2013, incumbent
Osami Takeyama ran as an independent (with the support of the
Liberal Democratic Party and an endorsement from the
Komeito
, formerly New Komeito and abbreviated NKP, is a conservative political party in Japan founded by lay members of the Buddhist Japanese new religious movement Soka Gakkai in 1964. Since 2012, it has served in government as the junior coalit ...
party) and defeated the Osaka Restoration Association candidate Katsutoshi Nishibayashi.
Takeyama first won office in 2009 with the backing of Hashimoto (prior to the party being formed), but lost the support of the party when he changed his position regarding the Metropolis merger plan. Whilst generally in favour of reform within the prefecture, Takeyama opposed the break-up of Sakai city and had a campaign slogan of .
[ This was the first time in the party's history that a candidate had lost a mayoral election. Takeyama received 50.69% of the vote, almost 7% more than in 2009.][
In 2015, with Hashimoto as Mayor of Osaka city and Matsui as Governor of Osaka Prefecture, the party promoted a merger plan that, if successful, would see the relationship between the 24 municipalities of Osaka and the prefecture be changed to resemble that of the ]Tokyo metropolis
Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...
and create four new semi-autonomous districts. The plan was defeated in a referendum
A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a Direct democracy, direct vote by the Constituency, electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a Representative democr ...
in May 2015 by a margin of less than 1%. Following the result, Hashimoto announced he would not contest the mayoral election at the end of 2015.
The party successfully contested the "double election" of the Osaka city mayoral election and prefecture gubernatorial election held on 22 November 2015. In the mayoral election, Hirofumi Yoshimura
is a Japanese politician currently serving as the Governor of Osaka Prefecture. He assumed office in April 2019. He has been described as a conservative.
Early life
Yoshimura was born in the Osaka suburb of Kawachinagano. He studied law at K ...
, a former member of the national House of Representatives
House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...
, was selected as the party's candidate to replace Hashimoto. Yoshimura ran on a platform of reinstating the metropolis merger plan[ and received 56.4% of the 1.05 million votes cast.] In the gubernatorial election, Matsui also campaigned in favour of the merger[ and was re-elected with 64% of the 3.14 million votes cast.][ The double victory has been considered a boost to the party's main policy of resurrecting the metropolis merger plan.][
]
Presidents
References
External links
Osaka Restoration Association
{{Authority control
Political parties established in 2010
Libertarian parties in Japan
Regional parties in Japan
2010 establishments in Japan
Politics of Osaka Prefecture
Organizations based in Osaka Prefecture