ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author discusses how local and national politics in Japan are related by focusing on a wave of municipal mergers that occurred in the 2000s. He argues that the central government’s interest in promoting municipal mergers was driven, at least in part, by the electoral calculations of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). The author further argues that municipal mergers impacted national politics by weakening the ties between voters and municipal politicians – namely, mayors and assembly members. A large wave of municipal mergers took place between 1953 and 1961, during which time the number of municipalities declined from 9,868 to 3,472. The fact that the central government promoted mergers is puzzling from a political perspective. Mergers would necessarily lead to the removal of a large number of municipal politicians, many of whom had long supported the LDP – the same party in power when the central government began promoting mergers.
