The Heisei Dai Gappei: a case study for understanding the municipal mergers of the Heisei era

Abstract

This article presents a preliminary examination of the municipal mergers of the Heisei era as the process unfolded in one rural prefecture in advance of the deadline of March 2006. The article opens by contextualizing the arguments for municipal mergers and the reality of mergers in other settings. A brief history of past periods of municipal mergers in Japan is provided and then the case for Aomori Prefecture, a rural and highly peripheral prefecture of northern Honshu, is examined. Using municipal PR materials, a sector analysis approach focusing on government, municipality and resident and coverage in the local media as the means to examine the process and issues of the mergers, the article concludes by questioning if mergers are necessary and, now that mergers are a reality, if the objectives which mergers are to achieve are locally meaningful to much of rural Japan.