New national party focused on Osaka to be formed in Japan

Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto and Osaka Governor Ichiro Matsui announced on Thursday that a new national party focused on Osaka will be launched on Oct. 24.

The new party's political objectives will include giving local municipalities more power from the central government and making Osaka a secondary capital of Japan other than Tokyo.

About a dozen Osaka-area Diet members have indicated that they will break away from the Japan Innovation Party and join the new party, which will be a blow to the second largest opposition party in Japan.

The new party's leadership structure has yet to be decided, and an official English name has yet to be chosen, said Hashimoto.

He also said that he had not given up the plan to retire from political life after his current term as mayor expires in December.

Hashimoto, who served as prefectural governor of Osaka from 2008 and became mayor in 2011, has been pushing for a plan to create a metropolitan Osaka government like Tokyo and to eliminate the duplication of administration between the Osaka city and the Osaka prefectural offices.