January 8, 2021
Keio University
In the wake of measures against the COVID-19 pandemic, the nature of political leadership is being questioned more strongly than ever before. Therefore, the Toshihiro Okubo Laboratory at the Faculty of Economics, Keio University; the Nippon Institute for Research Advancement (NIRA); Professor Takuya Tsuji of the Graduate School of Law, Hitotsubashi University; and Professor Masayuki Nakagawa of the Faculty of Economics, Nihon University, jointly conducted a survey on policy awareness and leadership, targeting mayors of municipalities nationwide and the 23 wards of Tokyo.
The survey was conducted from Monday, October 12, to Monday, November 30, 2020, with 815 responses. The results showed that during the COVID-19 pandemic, the policy on which mayors demonstrated the most leadership was "proactive information dissemination and disclosure to residents." This can be seen as a manifestation of the ability to exercise leadership by controlling "information."
On the other hand, it was found that before the COVID-19 pandemic, the policy most emphasized by municipal mayors was "enhancing childcare support."
Please see below for the survey results.
Please see below for the full press release.