Local News

Amid questions over amakudari (the practice of assigning retired government officials executive positions in affiliated organizations), Fukuoka City announced that it paid around ¥20.9 billion last year to 12 affiliated organizations with which it has non-competitive contracts. The City says it will assess the situation take measures to slim down or abolish unnecessary organizations. Affiliated organizations are defined as those entities in which the City has an equity stake of 25% or higher, and there are currently 33. The largest outlay, ¥6.81 billion, was paid to the City School Lunch Public Corporation, which is tasked with providing safe, healthy lunches to the Fukuoka’s 69 elementary and junior high schools. The other 11 organizations, which include Fukuoka Clean Energy Corporation and Fukuoka Soft Research Park, had former city employees working either as executives or regular employees. Mayor Takashima remarked, “We will assess whether these organization have benefits for the citizens and abolish those that are unnecessary.” Source: Nishinippon Shimbun, May 2