Photo/Illutration A Digital Agency office in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

A government office called Bukka Cho (price agency) was established in Tokyo's government district shortly after the end of World War II.

The Japanese economy was in utter chaos then, and the prices of potatoes and rice were out of control. The agency was modeled after its American counterpart, with the intention of curbing inflation.

The Allied occupation authorities initially demanded it be established as Bukka Sho (price ministry), but the Japanese government hemmed and hawed, citing bureaucratic jurisdictional issues. Ultimately, an agreement was reached on giving it the "cho" agency status.

It was positioned as the key to the "stabilization of people's livelihoods," and its opening made the top news on front pages.

However, newspapers only provided cursory coverage when the agency was closed after a little less than six years, alongside the end of the occupation.

Ministries have always been at the top of Japan's bureaucratic pyramid. There have been cases of agencies being "promoted" to ministries, such as the former Defense Agency and the Environment Agency.

But many agencies have also come and gone, such as Karafuto Cho (Sakhalin agency), Nanyo Cho (South Seas agency), Kanto Cho (Kanto agency) and Baisho Cho (compensation agency).

Chuo Keizai Chosa Cho (central economic research agency), established in 1948, had a short life of only 10 months.

And now, Japan is about to establish Kansensho Kiki Kanri Cho (literally, infectious disease crisis management agency). I wonder whether its life will be long or short.

Under the initiative of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, the agency will serve as the control center of the nation's public health crisis response.

The agency will be the actualization of Kenko Kiki Kanri Cho (public health crisis management agency) Kishida pledged to create while he was campaigning for the Liberal Democratic Party presidency last autumn. He was expected to announce the details as early as June 15.

With this summer's Upper House election drawing near, Kishida obviously does not want to be accused of making empty promises. The risks of infectious diseases are never absent, and the nation certainly needs some kind of crisis management center.

But why now? Let's hope this agency is not going to follow the fate of the Digital Agency, which was created under the preceding Suga administration amid great fanfare but has since gone nowhere.

The prices of vegetables, flour and gasoline are smashing records now.

If I may speak up as a consumer, a price agency to protect households from exorbitant prices of goods would be more welcome than an infectious disease crisis management agency.

--The Asahi Shimbun, June 15

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.

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