The Japanese local government system is a two-tier system, with administrative divisions of Japan (large regional public organizations) and municipalities (basic local public organizations).
Setagaya City is one of the 23 cities that make up Tokyo, the capital of Japan, but it is not an internal organization within the Tokyo Metropolitan Government. Rather, it is a municipality, a basic local public organization based on the local government law.
The municipal government has a “legislative body” that makes important decisions, such as creating ordinances and budgets for the city, and an “executive body” in the form of the mayor, who executes projects following those decisions. The assembly members, who make up the decision-making system, and the mayor, who executes policy, are directly elected by city residents. This system ensures smooth administrative operations with controls and balance. In addition to the position of mayor, who directs the city’s administrative work and projects, the Administrative Committee and Setagaya City Audit Commission have been created to prevent too much authority being concentrated in a single position or person (i.e., the mayor)
The Legislative Body
City Assembly Structure
The maximum number of assembly members allowed under local government law
is base don the population and decided by ordinance. Setagaya City’s assembly has 52 members, four less than the maximum (56
people) allowed under the law.
The term of office for these representatives
is four years. The term for the current
city assembly members runs form May 1st 2007, to April 30th,
2011 (please refer to the attached information for member affiliations).
Plenary Sessions of the City
Assembly
The conference of the assembly has regular
and provisional meeting, both of which are convened by the mayor. Regular meetings of the assembly are held four times a year (March, June,
September and November) as required by ordinance.
Committees
There are five permanent committees, as per
the ordinance. The number of committee
members has been fixed at nine members or more and each assembly member is a
member of one of the permanent committees.
Committee members serve for two years.
Additionally, an assembly steering committee and four special committees
have been created, based on the ordinance (please refer to attached information
for the permanent committees).
