Sixteen prefectural assemblies have sent members on overseas inspection trips over the 10 years since fiscal 2016 without setting any cap on total travel spending per lawmaker, a Kyodo News survey found.
Costs tended to run higher at those assemblies than at ones that set limits, though the trips varied in size and content. The survey asked every prefectural assembly office whether it had a cap and what it covered, and all responded.
In Fukuoka, where large travel bills have become a problem, raising the amount after a contract with a travel agency was signed had become standard practice, according to the survey. Aichi and others had cases where the average reached about 3 million yen per person.
Public money pays for the trips, and criticism that it is hard to see how they feed into local government policy has persisted. If assemblies keep running them, rules to curb open-ended spending are seen as essential.
How the caps work elsewhere
Twenty-two prefectural assemblies, including Miyagi and Shizuoka, do set limits. They fall into two broad types: a ceiling on the total for one term, or a ceiling on each individual trip. Among those capping the total per term, most set it at 800,000 to 1 million yen.
Eight other prefectures had no rules on caps but had not run any trips since at least fiscal 2016. Shimane said it could not confirm whether a cap exists.
The survey covered the decade from fiscal 2016. The findings were reported on the 3rd.