Yonaguni Town Council has unanimously approved a revision bill to change the number of town council from 6 to 10. The council approved the resolution at its regular Sep. meeting on Tuesday.

At the meeting, two members of the governing party argued that it was too early to decide, and asked for a careful discussion. However, they could not reach an understanding with the rest of the coucil and lefy before the vote. Three members of representing the opposition passed the bill. The bill will be applied starting with the election of town council members in fiscal 2018.

Yonaguni Town Council reduced the number of its members from eight to six for the election in 2006 considering financial difficulties of the town after the subsidy from the central government was reduced as a part of the so called trinity reform.

According to opposition members, they have proposed the increase since six members proved to be not enough to correctly reflect the public opinion. On the other hand, members of the governing party have presented opinions like, “There has been no demands from the citizens,” and, “We could not obtain a consensus,” or, “We need to increase the number of council members gradually.”

The population of Yonaguni Town dropped to 1,489 in 2015. However, it has since increased to 1,702 (as of 31 July 2016), because of a Japan Ground Self-Defense Force Coast Observation Unit deployment on the island.

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