(EDS: THIS IS THE SECOND OF FIVE NEWS FOCUS STORIES ABOUT PRIME MINISTER JUNICHIRO KOIZUMI REFORM POLICIES)
     The declaration by Yamatsuri, a mountainous town with a population of about 7,000 in southern Fukushima Prefecture, in October 2001 that it will never merge with other municipalities sent shock waves to other local governments throughout the country.
     ''It is our mission to hand down the homeland 'Yamatsuri Town' as it is to our descendants living in the 21st century,'' the declaration said.
     Half a year before, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi made his debut with overwhelming public support. As part of his structural reform policy, he proposed grand mergers among municipal governments for effective local administration. Yamatsuri's declaration was a protest against that proposal.
     Yamatsuri residents were concerned that a merger with other local governments might cut back administrative services to distant areas. For the town's survival, Mayor Ryoichi Nemoto and others began to tackle administrative reforms on their own.
     The number of members of the town assembly was cut from 18 to 10, and the mayor's salary was curtailed to the level of the chief of the general affairs section. The hiring of new town officials was suspended. As a result, the expenditures, which totaled about 4.5 billion yen in fiscal 2001, are expected to amount to some 3.2 billion yen in fiscal 2005.
     The town's population is likely to continue to decrease due to a falling birthrate, and there can be a limit to administrative reform efforts. The mayor also reportedly feels unrest. ''The prime minister is indifferent to local areas.''
     The city of Kushima in Miyazaki Prefecture also abandoned a merger with three neighboring cities and towns, including Nichinan, in 2003 because the opinion of its residents, then numbering about 24,000, was divided. Since then, the municipal government has been trying hard ''to slim the administration'' by reviewing its budget and abolishing its advisory bodies.
     But even if administrative reforms make progress, the regional economy, chiefly agriculture, cannot be activated, and residents are seriously seeking ''detonators.''
     Thinking the construction of a highway can activate the city's tourism and industry, a group of female residents, led by Sawako Zaitsu, 54, has been studying the matter, inviting officials of the prefectural government in charge.
     A display has been erected in front of the building housing the city's construction industry organization, saying, ''Early commencement of the construction of the Higashi Kyushu Motorway.''
     Construction of the motorway linking Kitakyushu and Kagoshima cities has already been decided on under a new formula in which the state and prefectures will bear expenses for the highway from Kitakyushu to Nichinan, north of Kushima.
     The schedule to build the section from Nichinan to Shibushi in Kagoshima via Kushima has yet to be fixed.
     Koizumi realized the privatization of four road-related public corporations in 2005 and declared at the Diet in March this year that construction of roads except those already endorsed by the government is ''on a clean sheet.''
     If the prime minister actually means that, construction of the section between Nichinan and Shibushi, which is not included in the state's road construction plan, can not be hoped for at least for the time being.
     Although Zaitsu said, ''We want the government to say it is not abandoning local areas,'' the ''barrier'' is thick.
==Kyodo