Asahi: Tiny Daisen city's assembly bigger even than Tokyo's
DAISEN, Akita Prefecture-Tiny Daisen city has one thing that even Tokyo can't match: Its city assembly is the nation's largest. Daisen, just one week old today, has 136 assembly members to represent the interests of its 98,000 population. The Tokyo metropolitan assembly, on the other hand, has 127 members who represent the interests of roughly 12 million people... There has been much criticism from local residents about having such a big assembly run at taxpayer expense...Shunro Tomitsuka, 61, resigned as an assembly member in the town of Nishi-Senboku. "The salaries for all 136 city assembly members will amount to more than 300 million yen for about half a year," he noted.
