Visit to London

By Nobuharu Hikiba

Officers of the Japan Local Government Centre accompanied assembly members and directors from Tokyo Metropolitan Government on several visits to London-based bodies on January 29 and February 1, alongside the successful Tokyo City Promotion event held during the weekend of 30/31 January. Visits by TMG directors were made to the Greater London Authority and Visit London on January 29 to discuss challenges and policies for tourism promotion in both cities.

Tokyo assembly members were able to visit the the Royal Borough of Richmond upon Thames on February 1. Topics discussed included consumer protection/fair trading and education management. In addition to a visit to the local authority, hosted by council leader Cllr Serge Lourie, they were also able to visit Orleans Park School, where pupils and teachers greeted them with homemade gifts and performances, as well as an overview of lessons in the school.

Japanese art festival

Two days of art and cultural actitivities at the Richmond Adult Community College.

27 & 28 February 2010

Entry free

Website

Japanese bank tackles London youth exclusion

The Mayor of London has announced that Nomura will provide £150,000 over three years to the Mayor’s Fund to tackle poverty and disadvantage among young people in the capital.

As an active member of the city of London we are proud to be working with the Mayor on this project. Nomura has a long standing tradition of investing in local communities and we look forward to developing this partnership in the future.

Local election results

All 24 January 2010

Miyazaki City Mayor

Tadashi Tojiki (Independent) 81,951 Elected
Ryosuke Saito (Independent) 48,739
Hideharu Yuri (Independent) 10,892

Turnout: 48.15％　

Nago City Mayor

Susumu Inamine (Democratic Party of Japan, Social Democratic Party, People’s New Party, Japan Communist Party) 17,950 Elected
Yoshikazu Shimabukuro (Liberal Democratic Party, New Komeito) 16,362

Turnout: 76.96%

Elected mayors research

Research by JLGC Research Manager Andrew Stevens is cited in a new report by the New Local Government Network published today. New Model Mayors: Democracy, Devolution and Direction can be downloaded here (PDF).

Visit to Camden Council

Officers of the Japan Local Government Centre visited the London Borough of Camden on 22 January. Staff from the council presented on its policies around e-government and service transformation.

The Future of Cities

The Future of Cities conference will be held at Chatham House, London 8-9 February. Among the speakers is Teruyuki Ohno, Director General for Climate Strategy at Tokyo Metropolitan Government.

Japanese lessons

The Regeneration and Renewal blog has a post on what the UK can learn from Japanese innovation.

Visit to Local Government Association

The Governor of Yamanashi Prefecture, Shōmei Yokouchi, as well as five officials of Yamanashi Prefectural Government and two from Japan Local Government Centre in London, visited the Local Government Association (UK) on 14 January. The topic for discussion was local government action on climate change in the UK.

Japan opts for UK model of public sector reform

The Guardian’s Public website has an article on how the new government of Japan is considering introducing UK-style performance management to the public sector.