The Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy, in collaboration with the University of Birmingham, invites you to a unique event taking place alongside Expo 2025.

Regional Growth for Japan’s Cities & Prefectures: Practical Governance & Funding Solutions is a session in Osaka designed to complement the UK Government’s World Expo 2025 campaign to strengthen collaboration between the UK and Japan.

Japan’s local public sector is navigating familiar challenges: clarifying roles between cities and prefectures, coordinating wide-area services that cross municipal borders, and aligning funding flows – from equalisation and shared tax bases to tourism/accommodation revenues – with meaningful local outcomes. This event is designed for practitioners working exactly at those interfaces and seeking learning examples from the UK.

This curated programme will convene leaders from government, academia, and civil society to explore governance and funding arrangements that enable effective regional growth.

Speakers

Opening remarks

  • Professor Toshihiko Ishihara – President, CIPFA Japan
  • Carolyn Davidson – Commissioner General for the UK at Expo 2025 Osaka Kansai, Foreign Commonwealth & Development Office

Chair

  • Jeffrey Matsu – Chief Economist, The Chartered Institute of Public Finance & Accountancy

Speakers

  • Keiko Murakami – Deputy Director General, International Affairs Department, METI Kansai
  • Yumi Nishijima – Director, Union of Kansai Governments
  • Miki Konishi – Programme Coordinator, United Nations University-Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability (UNU-IAS)
  • Michael Blyth – British Consul General Osaka, Foreign Commonwealth & Development Office

Concluding remarks

  • Professor Anne Green and Dr Abigail Taylor, City-REDI, University of Birmingham, UK
Speaker biographies

Why attend

  • Discuss current issues relevant to Japan – governance issues, inter-municipal cooperation, and cost-sharing – into concrete operating options you can take back to your teams.
  • Explore funding arrangements that support regional growth while managing equalisation and incentives for both prefectures and municipalities.
  • Compare approaches across economic development, transport, water/waste, planning, and public health, where coordination can make or break service quality.

Evidence-led international learning

We will use a recent report published by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA), the University of Birmingham and Otemon Gakuin University to start a two-way learning process. We will explore what Japan can learn and adapt from the UK – and what Japan’s own experience offers to peers abroad. The session will focus on practical tools that can be used in different contexts, such as stable institutions, effective regional partnerships, empowering funding systems, and ways to monitor and learn from progress.

Format

  • Speaker presentations
  • Panel discussion
  • Networking and refreshments

Who should attend

Local officials in prefectural and city government – finance, policy, planning, infrastructure, health/welfare, regional development and international affairs – as well as colleagues in regional agencies, community groups and academia.

If your role involves helping to design how decisions are made and resources are allocated to support regional progress, this session is built for you. Join us to have the chance to share and test ideas with colleagues from different tiers of government and the third sector. You will also leave with practical suggestions that you can implement in the Japanese context.

This event is associated with a wider programme as part of a global partnership for Expo 2025 developed by the Royal Society of Arts, Manufacturers and Commerce (the RSA) and its partners.

If you are unable to attend this event, please share this invitation with a colleague.

If you have any questions or need to contact the event organisers, please note that all correspondence will be conducted in English. We thank you for your understanding.

In partnership with

Four logos—University of Birmingham, City REDI, CIPFA, and RSA—highlight key partners collaborating for an upcoming sustainability event focused on the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Professor Toshihiko Ishihara

President, CIPFA Japan

A middle-aged man wearing glasses, a dark suit, white shirt, and a red patterned tie stands in a sunlit corridor with arches and blurred greenery in the background, smiling gently at the camera—ready to host upcoming events on sustainability.

Carolyn Davidson

Commissioner General for the UK at Expo 2025 Osaka Kansai, Foreign Commonwealth & Development Office

A woman with short hair and glasses, wearing a light-colored blazer and necklace, smiles at the camera. The background is blurred greenery, reflecting the atmosphere of a sustainability event. The image is in black and white.

Jeffrey Matsu

Chief Economist, The Chartered Institute of Public Finance & Accountancy

A man with short black hair wearing a black blazer and light-colored shirt, smiling slightly, stands against a plain white background, ready to speak at a sustainability event focused on the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Keiko Murakami

Deputy Director General, International Affairs Department, METI Kansai

A woman with glasses and tied-back hair stands against a plain white background, wearing a black blazer over a light blue shirt and a white collar, her lapel adorned with a multicolored pin symbolic of sustainability events.

Yumi Nishijima

Director, Union of Kansai Governments

A woman with straight dark hair wearing a black top and a gold necklace smiles gently. She stands indoors in front of large windows with greenery visible outside, ready to attend events on sustainability and support the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Miki Konishi

Programme Coordinator, United Nations University-Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability (UNU-IAS)

A woman with straight dark hair, wearing a cream blazer over a blue top, small earrings, and a delicate necklace, stands against a plain white background, looking confidently at the camera—ready to lead the next sustainability event.

Michael Blyth

Consul General, Osaka

A man in a blue suit and tie stands indoors in front of a red-carpeted staircase with ornate railings, smiling slightly at the camera, possibly attending a sustainability event focused on the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Join another RSA Public Talk

A person wearing a bright orange sweater and yellow earrings smiles while seated on a green chair. They are on a stage or panel, with a blurred audience in the foreground and a projection screen in the background.

Hear more from leading social innovators Public

We offer free access to the world’s most influential changemakers. Join a public talk and engage in conversations to help shape our future.

Be the first to know about RSA Events

Sign up to receive our dedicated events newsletter straight to your inbox every fortnight.

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

For information about how we handle your data, please read our privacy policy.

Explore our latest upcoming events