NIRA RESEARCH REPORT
January 2022

The Political Leadership of Mayors in Japan- Examining the Results of a Nationwide Survey of Mayors14 January 2022
Nippon Institute for Research Advancement

The rapidly accelerating aging and decline of Japan’s population, combined withclimate change, and digitalization are forcing major policy shifts in the ways thatgovernment is administered and community development organized. While somemunicipalities have successfully pioneered dramatic shifts in public policy to meet thesechallenges, the majority have failed to reform sufficiently in the face of change. The reality
is that bold leadership by local mayors is indispensable for achieving meaningful reforms,
as they play a key role being at the core of local decision making. Unfortunately, the recordof mayoral leadership and achievement in Japan, has thus far failed to leave a positive
impression, and this is reflected in the lack of meaningful scholarship on the realities ofmayoral leadership within the country.
To help rectify this deficit, the Nippon Institute for Research Advancement, incollaboration with Professor Toshihiro Okubo of Keio University, Professor Takuya Tsuji ofHitotsubashi University, and Professor Masayuki Nakagawa of Nihon University conducteda survey sent out to each of Japan’s 1,741 mayors1 on “Policy Initiatives and Leadership.”The survey, conducted between October 12 and November 30 of 2020, received 824 responses
for a response rate of 47%.
This paper examines the realities of municipal governance and mayorship from theperspective of leadership to find the secret to executing successful policy change in a society
undergoing rapid population aging and population decline. Under such conditions, how domayors exercise leadership, and what are the factors that hinder reform? What kinds ofThe survey was sent out to the mayors of cities, towns, and the 23 special wards (tokubetsu-ku) of Tokyo, all ofwhich are designated as legally independent municipalities under Japanese law. This number does not include
the heads of the administrative wards (ku) of “cities designated by government ordinance,” (for example, Kohokuku in Yokohama City) as these wards are mere subdivisions of municipal authority, do not exist as independent
legal entities, and are not considered municipalities under Japanese law. Therefore, for the purposes of both thesurvey and this paper, the term “mayor” refers exclusively to the elected leaders of municipalities as defined
under Japanese law.
11Copyright Ⓒ 2022 by Nippon Institute for Research Advancement
This is a translation of a paper originally published in Japanese. NIRA bears full responsibility for the translation
presented here.

NIRA RESEARCH REPORT
January 2022

personalities do mayors possess and what separates those who have successfully pioneeredreforms from those whose record is merely average? By asking such questions, this paper
seeks to provide critical insight into the kind of leadership required to achieve meaningfulreform.
This paper is divided into two main parts. In part one, the results of the survey onmunicipal leadership and policy initiative are used to paint a picture depicting the averagestate of mayors in Japan. In part two, six municipalities that have achieved pioneeringreforms are taken up as case studies and compared to the average outlined in part one, to
uncover the potential key ingredients of their success.
When referencing or using the contents, figures or tables in this report, please be
sure to include the following information in the citation: Nippon Institute for Research
Advancement, Okubo, T, Tsuji, T & Nakagawa, M (2022) Effective Mayoral Leadership andThe Realities of Municipal Governance Amidst the Challenges of a Shrinking and Super
Aging Society

2Copyright Ⓒ 2022 by Nippon Institute for Research Advancement
This is a translation of a paper originally published in Japanese. NIRA bears full responsibility for the translation
presented here.

NIRA RESEARCH REPORT
January 2022

Key Points from the Survey
1. Key Policy Issues and Priorities for Mayors and Municipalities:•The most important policy issue identified by mayors nationwide was “enhancing
measures to promote and support child rearing.”•Of the policies prioritized by mayors and examined in this report, the majority werefinanced primarily via funds provided by the central government, with very few
initiatives being undertaken that would entail local governments taking on the risk ofsourcing their own financing.
Figure 1: Key Policy Issues and Priorities for Mayors and Municipalities

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Copyright Ⓒ 2022 by Nippon Institute for Research Advancement
This is a translation of a paper originally published in Japanese. NIRA bears full responsibility for the translation
presented here.

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January 2022

2. Policy Emphasis and the Need for Political Leadership in Decision Making•The greater the emphasis mayors place on a given policy the more likely they are toemphasize the necessity of their own political leadership and decision making.

•This is particularly evident in a strong tendency to take political ownership ofexpansionary policies designed to combat the aging population, emphasizing their rolein the decision-making process. Conversely, mayors tend to deemphasize their role whenit comes to administrative reform or the downsizing of local governments in response tothe expected decline in population, by saying it is the “direction laid out by the centralgovernment.”

Figure 2: Emphasis on following "Administrative Followership (A)" vs " Political Leadership”(B) in decision making for the following policies

Note: "Administrative Followership (A)" refers to a policy that emphasizes following the recommendations of
the national and prefectural governments, including heading the broader direction they have laid out andrespecting the precedents they have established. By contrast "Political Leadership (B)" implies taking on an
active role in public policy decision making, using one's own political judgment.

4Copyright Ⓒ 2022 by Nippon Institute for Research Advancement
This is a translation of a paper originally published in Japanese. NIRA bears full responsibility for the translation
presented here.

NIRA RESEARCH REPORT
January 2022

3. Personality Traits of Municipal Mayors•Japanese mayors tend to be less neurotic than the general public while also being more
outgoing, open-minded, diligent, and willing to take risk.

•Their image is that of an “everyman” who, despite being more sociable and less afraid ofrisk than the public at large, remains a relatable and down to earth figure who attempts
to shape government institutions over time.
Figure 3: Personalities of Municipal Mayors vs the General Public (Average)

Figure 4: Risk Appetite of Municipal Mayors vs the General Public

Note: Distribution of responses to the risk appetite question are on a scale of 0 (not at all willing totake risks) to 10 (very willing to take risks.)

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Copyright Ⓒ 2022 by Nippon Institute for Research Advancement
This is a translation of a paper originally published in Japanese. NIRA bears full responsibility for the translation
presented here.

NIRA RESEARCH REPORT
January 2022

4. Identifying the Leadership Style and Traits of Mayors•

Mayoral leadership was evaluated based on the typology of leadership developed byJoseph S. Nye, which looks at two primary criteria: "objectives" and "style".

•Of the municipalities surveyed, about 40% have mayors whose leadership style can beclassified as "transactional and incremental," in which changes are made gradually, overtime, with the consent of concerned parties.

•However, only about 1% of the municipalities surveyed featured mayors who sought toachieve change by inspiring those around them to challenge the prevailing reality. Thissuggests that the despite mayors being less risk adverse than the general population,the "inspirational and transformational" style of leadership that relies on such
personality traits, is rarely put into practice.
Figure 5: Identifying the Leadership Style and Traits of Mayors

Note1: The objectives of the leaders were categorized based on how they strongly they identified withthe following two statements: "I want to make drastic changes to the organization" and "I want tomake deliberate changes to the organization, step by step, over time.” For both statements,respondents were asked to select from a value between 1 and 7 corresponding to a range from "verytrue" to "not true at all.” A respondent who more strongly identified with the statement "I want tomake drastic changes to my organization" compared to the statement " I want to make deliberatechanges to the organization, step by step, over time," would be categorized as "transformational,”
whereas a respondent who more strongly identified with the opposite response would be categorizedas "gradual." Respondents who gave equal weight to both statements were categorized as

6Copyright Ⓒ 2022 by Nippon Institute for Research Advancement
This is a translation of a paper originally published in Japanese. NIRA bears full responsibility for the translation
presented here.

NIRA RESEARCH REPORT
January 2022
“intermediate.
Note2: Leadership style was similarly categorized based on the degree to which respondents identified
with the following two statements: "I am good at persuading people to follow my ideas," and "I thinkan important part of persuading others is to present conditions that are acceptable to them.”
Respondents who identified more strongly with the statement "I am good at persuading people tofollow my ideas" were categorized as "inspirational" leaders, whereas those who identified morestrongly with "I think an important piece of persuading others is to present conditions that areacceptable to them" were categorized as "transactional" leaders. Those who gave equal weight to bothstatements were categorized as "intermediate."

5. Mayors of Municipalities With Pioneering Achievements Compared to theNational Average•

Six municipalities, Kawasaki City, Toyama City, Bunkyo City, Kizugawa City, Date City,and Kawaminami Town (of Miyazaki Prefecture,) were taken up as case studies due totheir notable and pioneering achievements.

•One thing to note is that the mayors of the aforementioned municipalities do notnecessarily emphasize political decision-making.

•Compared to the average mayor, most of them are more willing to take more risk,
however this trait is primarily reflected in their leadership style, not the scope of theirgoals. Their leadership style tends to be “inspirational,” pursuing their goals bypersuading others of the merit of their ideas, in contrast to the “transactional”
leadership style which presents counterparts with bargaining chips in order to secure
their cooperation.

•This makes sense, as the current period of slow growth can be thought of as a “zero-sumgame,” in which the room for deal making is limited, because there is very little surplus
that can be negotiated away or used to make a deal without compromising the end goal.
If that is indeed the case, inspirational leadership, that is, the ability to persuade others
solely on the strength and persuasiveness of one’s ideas, will be increasingly importantfor municipal leaders going forward.

7Copyright Ⓒ 2022 by Nippon Institute for Research Advancement
This is a translation of a paper originally published in Japanese. NIRA bears full responsibility for the translation
presented here.

NIRA RESEARCH REPORT
January 2022
Figure 6: Leadership Style and Traits of Mayors of Municipalities with Pioneering
Achievements

Note: Municipal case studies that have implemented "reforms that appropriately reduce the scale ofbusiness in line with population decline, using demographic trends as a precondition" are shown inblue, while those that have implemented "policies designed to mitigate the degree of population
decline and smooth out the pace of demographic change,” are shown in red.

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Copyright Ⓒ 2022 by Nippon Institute for Research Advancement
This is a translation of a paper originally published in Japanese. NIRA bears full responsibility for the translation
presented here.