Japan Passes Secondary Capital Bill for Disaster Preparedness

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Japan's National Diet has passed the Secondary Capital Bill to prepare for potential emergencies. This law allows the Prime Minister to name a backup city for key government duties if a massive earthquake strikes Tokyo.
Among candidate cities, Osaka stands as the primary contender for the backup capital due to strong political support and existing modern infrastructure.

Japan is an island nation in East Asia made up of more than 6,800 islands in the North Pacific Ocean, operating as a constitutional monarchy with its National Diet.
The official capital city is Tokyo, which lies on the Kanto Plain in east-central Honshu.
Water bodies surrounding the country include the Sea of Japan, the Pacific Ocean, the Sea of Okhotsk, and the East China Sea.
Its main territory comprises four large islands, which are Hokkaido, Honshu (the biggest and most populated), Shikoku, and Kyushu.

Four major tectonic plates meet beneath Japan, including the Pacific, Philippine Sea, Eurasian, and North American plates, making the region highly prone to earthquakes.
Positioned on the Pacific Ring of Fire, mountainous land covers more than four-fifths of the country, containing over 110 active volcanoes and numerous hot springs.
The Nankai Trough is a 900-km-long ocean trench along the Pacific coast where tectonic plate movement creates extreme stress, generating large earthquakes and tsunamis.
Narrow fertile plains and steep river valleys formed by river deposits host almost all of Japan's cities and industrial centres.

Establishing a secondary capital prevents total shutdown in Tokyo during disasters, allowing governance and emergency relief work to continue without break.
Shifting government focus and investments to regional cities like Osaka builds nationwide economic strength and leads to balanced growth.