Abstract
In Osaka city, a large city system suitable for Osaka has been debated since 2012, and in May 2015 a referendum was held on an Agreement to Establish Special Wards. “No” votes were in the majority and thus establishment of special wards was rejected, albeit by a narrow margin, but in December of that same year the debate on the large city system was resumed. From August 2016 to January 2017, meetings for Osaka citizens were held 24 times to solicit opinions and provide explanation on general wards and special wards (the new large city system). In this research, a text analysis was carried out on the content explained in these meetings, and it was verified whether or not the Osaka city side provided an appropriate explanation to the citizens. The results showed that the explanation by the secretariat was improved compared to the explanatory meetings for residents in 2015, but the mayor repeatedly gave inappropriate explanations, and thus there was almost no improvement in explanation content. Also, when an investigation was carried out of the similarity of five types of texts—explanation by the mayor, explanation by the secretariat, responses by the mayor and governor to the questions of citizens, and handout materials—there was found to be similarity between the explanation by the secretariat and the content of the handout materials, but there was no similarity between these and the explanation by the mayor, and the responses by the mayor and governor to questions. Furthermore, changes were evident across the 24 meetings in the explanation by the mayor and in the responses of the mayor and governor to questions, but it was also shown that those texts did not approach closer to the explanations by the secretariat and the content of the handout materials. In addition, when the specifics of the opinions of citizens at the meetings were investigated, it was confirmed that a considerable number of citizens said the issue of special wards had already been rejected, it is wrong to hold the referendum again, and the city is fine with the 24 administrative wards it has had thus far.
