Always good to have a spare lying around.

Capital cities are essential parts of all countries, serving as the center of government, hubs of economic activity, and symbols of the national identity. After all, who could imagine Japan without Tokyo, France without Paris, or Azerbaijan without Baku?

But having such centralized pillars of power can also be a vulnerability if something should ever happen to them. And with a country as susceptible to earthquakes, tsunamis, typhoons, and volcanic eruptions as Japan, something happening to Tokyo is not so far-fetched. Even a recent video created by the Tokyo government showed how the ash from an eruption of Mt. Fuji could conceivably bring the capital to a grinding halt.

So, on 24 July, the government passed legislation to begin the establishment of a “vice-capital” (fukushuto) to take the reins should Tokyo become unable to fulfill its duties. However, the matter of which city would become the official backup capital was not decided.

It’s generally believed that Osaka would become the vice-capital, as the idea was originally floated when the Nippon Ishin (Japan Innovation) Party, a dominant political party in Osaka, entered into a coalition with the ruling-but-ailing Liberal Democratic Party to help them maintain their position in Parliament.

However, almost immediately after the plenary session vote, the governor of Aichi Prefecture and mayor of Nagoya held a press conference to announce their intentions of becoming the vice-capital. The city and its prefecture added that they are entering an official agreement of cooperation, which is one of the requirements to back up Tokyo.

Osaka, on the other hand, is planning to once again hold a referendum to make the prefecture into a metropolitan government that is structured just like Tokyo. This has been a long-standing ambition of Nippon Ishin, who want to eliminate what they call the “excessive and wasteful” layers of both a municipal and prefectural government. It is believed that being designated as vice-city would help put weight behind their Osaka Metropolis proposal.

It’s important to note that Nippon Ishin is pretty much only popular in Osaka, and has a less-than-stellar reputation in the rest of Japan for its unique brand of right-wing populism. And with the vice-capital initiative largely being driven by them, online comments have largely taken an “anywhere but Osaka” stance.

“There’s no need for it to be Osaka. I hope other prefectures follow Aichi’s lead.”
“Forget ‘vice-capital,’ Nagoya is the future capital!”
“I think Aichi is not good because it’s near the Nankai Trough, but it’s good that they at least threw their hat in the ring. Someone needs to stop those Nippon Ishin idiots.”
“We should build one from scratch, like they did with Brasilia.”
“Saitama calls themselves the ‘New Urban Center.’ They should try too.”
“Nagoya’s clearly riding the ‘anywhere but Osaka’ sentiment.”
“I think we should pass on Nagoya. I could see something like Hakata or Sendai, though.”
“Kanagawa should enter as Neo-Tokyo-3!”
“Somewhere far away, like Fukuoka or Hokkaido would be suitable.”
“Wouldn’t Okayama be a good choice? It suffers little damage from typhoons or tsunamis thanks to the island of Shikoku.”
“It has to be far from Tokyo, but not too far that transportation is difficult. Kyoto has too many historical sites to develop on, so either Osaka or Nagoya is the best choice.”

It’s good to see so many ideas come up, even though this really appears to be a quid pro quo arrangement between two political parties and will likely go to Osaka, regardless of how anyone feels.

Personally, if the goal is disaster avoidance, I can’t think of a better capital city backup than a Minecraft server. It’s cheap, completely protected from natural disasters as long as the zombies and spiders are turned off, and would be an excellent way to get kids more involved in politics.

Source: TBS News Dig, NTV, Hachima Kiko
Image: Pakutaso
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