Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama received a 3rd round of advice from Mr. Uichiro Niwa, Chair of the Decentralization Reform Committee, at the Prime Minister's Office.

Out of approximately 4,000 articles on obligations and frameworks that were requested to be reviewed in the previous advice of last December, the 3rd round of advice identified concrete steps to be taken to review each of the 892 articles covering the three prioritized items deemed particularly problematic: (a) the national standards for the establishment and management of local government's facilities and public properties; (b) the national government's engagement in the local government's administrative works in the forms of consultation, agreement, permission, authorization, and approval; and (c) the obligation of the local governments to draw plans and stipulate procedures for planning.

Upon receiving the advice, Prime Minister Hatoyama stated, "This advice holds great significance in achieving regionalism. I will ensure that the Cabinet as a whole will take steps promptly so as to carry out as many requests from the advice as possible."