Japan to Adopt Secondary Capital Requirements in Oct.

Tokyo, Aug. 26 (Jiji Press)--Japanese government officials on Wednesday confirmed that they will adopt an ordinance around late October that includes requirements for serving as a secondary capital.

The country's parliament enacted a bill last month to create a secondary capital in a regional area to serve as an alternate to the central government's operations and disperse economic bases in preparations for large-scale disasters. Tax breaks and deregulation will be implemented.

Local governments including the prefectures of Osaka, Hokkaido, Aichi and Fukuoka have unveiled their bids to be a secondary capital.

The requirements are expected to stipulate that a secondary capital has a lower risk of being affected by a disaster at the same time Tokyo is hit by one. The designation process is expected to take into account locations of regional government bureaus, the size of population and the level of economic concentration.

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