National Integration and Local Power in Japan by Yasuo Takao

Author:Yasuo Takao [Takao, Yasuo]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Political Science, Political Process, General
ISBN: 9780429820069
Google: -_6GDwAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 2997721
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 1999-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Table 3.6 indicates that specific grants for the construction of day-care centres had nearly doubled in each consecutive year during the period from 1970 to 1975. According to an investigation conducted by the National Association of Governors, in the 1970 settlement of accounts the overburdening rate of day-care centres was by far the highest percentage among the major six ordinary constructions.32 In the Children and Families Bureau Chief notification of August 1968, the MHW reduced the minimum enrolment capacity of 60 to 30 in urban day-care centres, in order to legalise unauthorised small facilities. This application extended to rural areas in 1971. In FY 1973, the national grant program for the construction of day-care centres started to pay the fixed percentage of a centrally established standard cost and finally abolished the fixed sum system.

The grant allocation for day-care construction as a percentage of the total of social welfare construction grants expanded enormously from 1971 to 1978, when the pressing need for day-care centres began to decline. It rose rapidly from 18.8% in 1971 to 35.6% in 1973 and to 67.1% in 1977. How then had national grants for the construction of day-care centres been budgeted? The total payment of central government’s shares for this daycare budget item was unknown in the government-wide budget process. In FY 1971, for example, during the formal submission process of budget requests to the MOF, the MHW prepared a lump-sum proposal for all the national grant programs for the construction of social welfare institutions, including day-care ones. A rough waku (framework) for this larger budget item was established in the MOF’s draft. The national budget was ratified by a meeting of the Cabinet and then sent on to the Diet for passage. At this stage, various bureaus within the MHW opened negotiations with each other for a share of the fixed amount. The largest budget allocations were sought by the Children and Families Bureau for day-care constructions and the Social Welfare Bureau for the construction of facilities for the elderly. In FY 1972, the MHW began to shift its priorities in budgetary allocations to give a larger share to the construction of day-care centres.33

This sudden shift coincided with local election defeats for the LDP. In the 1971 gubernatorial election of Tokyo, Minobe campaigned on a pledge to solve the day-care problems and won a decisive victory. At the same time, the birthplace of the day-care grass-roots movements, Osaka, elected Kuroda Ryoichi, the opposition coalition candidate, as Osaka governor over the LDP incumbent.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.