Ryutaro Nonomura, then an independent member of the Hyogo prefectural assembly, attracted worldwide attention in July when his rant at a news conference was uploaded to YouTube. He hysterically wept and pounded on the table while answering questions about his suspicious use of an allowance that is given to local assembly members to fund their political activities. This episode and his subsequent resignation have focused public attention on the allowance. The important point is how to ensure transparency to ensure the allowance is used only for political activities.
The allowance was introduced by a revision in 2000 of the Local Autonomy Law to provide financial support for local assembly members producing policy proposals and making preparations for questions in assemblies.
Local governments provide allowances to parliamentary groups or to individual assembly members. For example, members of the Tokyo metropolitan assembly and the Osaka city assembly receive ¥600,000 a month and members of the Nagoya city assembly ¥500,000 a month. Hyogo Prefecture had paid its assembly members ¥500,000 a month, but reduced the allowance to ¥450,000 this month. Some local governments refrain from paying the allowance at all.
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