I wonder who will become Myaku-Myaku Mayor.
For quite a while now, the ruling political party in Osaka Prefecture, the Japan Innovation Party (Ishin no Kai), has been wanting to change Osaka into a metropolis like Tokyo. This would mainly involve breaking Osaka City into four “special wards,” which are kinds of pseudo-cities with more localized governments.
The benefit would be a reduction in government redundancy, since Osaka Prefecture and Osaka City often oversee similar services and infrastructure in the same areas such as schools, hospitals, and libraries. The downside is it would be a huge pain in the neck to redraw the map and reallocate all of the services, which is probably why the idea was shot down in two referendums over the past decade.
▼ One of the proposed ways to divide Osaka City into four special wards
The Japan Innovation Party remains undeterred, however, and is working hard to keep the dream of an Osaka Metropolis alive. It recently formed a coalition with the nation’s ruling party, the Liberal Democratic Party, with a clear goal of making Osaka Japan’s “Vice Capital,” and what better way to do that than to become more like Tokyo.
Meanwhile, in an effort to bolster more public support for the metropolis idea, the Japan Innovation Party held an online survey where citizens of Osaka would vote for what they would like the new special wards to be named. Among the more lackluster choices named after geographic locations or directions, some citizen suggested “Myakumya Ward” as a possible name for the area along the north side of the current Osaka City.
The reason for this choice is that the Japanese word for “Ward” is “Ku,” so Myakumya Ward in Japanese would be “Myakumya-ku,” nearly identical to the popular mascot of the Osaka Expo, Myaku-Myaku.
▼ Yes, all over the country there have been outbreaks of Myaku-Myaku fever.
Government officials involved in the survey weren’t sure what to do with the proposed name. On one hand, it seems to make a mockery of the whole idea. On the other hand, people love a good mockery, and since the whole purpose of this survey is to generate interest in the project, Myakumya Ward is very likely the best way to accomplish that.
The full shortlist of names is the following:
- Osaka Yodogawa Ward, Osaka Kita Ward, Osaka Chuo Ward, Osaka Tennoji Ward
- Shin-Osaka Ward, Umeda Ward, Namba Ward, Tennoji Ward
- Yumeshima Ward, Shirokita Ward, Semba Ward, Uemachi Ward
- Myakumya Ward, Kita Ward, Minami Ward, Harukas Ward
The second set seems like the most sensible. Most people I talk to refer to those general areas by those major train station names anyway. “Shin-Osaka” not so much, though, and looking at the options, I kind of think “Myakumya” is the best choice for that area, which contains the site of the former Expo. I would have said “Yodogawa,” but they put that meaningless “Osaka” in front of it for some reason, so “Myakumya” it is!
Reaction to the name online was mixed but significantly leaning towards the opinion that naming a municipal district after a gooey creature is a bad idea.
“It would be embarrassing to have to write ‘Myakumyaku’ on official documents.”
“Eh, I don’t live there, so I say go for it!”
“I think if they really own it wholeheartedly, it could become a good thing.”
“I think Governor Yoshimura said flat out on a livestream that it’ll never happen.”
“I like Myakumya-ku, it sounds like a land of magical monsters.”
“We can’t do that. We’d be the laughing stock of future generations.”
“They should call it Neo-Kobe.”
“The people who have to live there should have the biggest say in that.”
“Say goodbye to property values there.”
“I can’t wait to hand out business cards that say I’m from Myakumya-ku.”
“I’m expecting Fah Ward to come up soon too.”
“I live here, and I really hate this idea.”
Ultimately, we probably should respect the wishes of people who live in Myaku-Myaku Land, because they deserve to live with dignity too. Quite frankly though, Shin-Osaka (literally “New Osaka”) sounds like some kind of sci-fi Evangelion setting, and it would just be plain wrong since it’ll literally have become old Osaka at that point. Yumeshima is also the site of an upcoming integrated resort and casino, so do people really want their special ward to be named after that?
I think the people there just need to marinate on the idea a bit, and they’ll come to realize that Myakumya Ward really is the only sensible choice here.
Source: Livedoor News, Hachima Kiko
Images: ©SoraNews24, Osaka Prefecture
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