This study empirically investigated the major determinative factors regarding customer satisfaction in local government offices in Japan, comparing them with the results of similar surveys conducted by the author in 2020. The surveys comprise three categories of questions, referring to (1) customer satisfaction research in various countries, especially the expectancy disconfirmation model; (2) the SERVQUAL model; and (3) subsequent methods that emphasize the customer’s direct experience. A total of 1,000 questionnaires were distributed over four weekdays at the City Hall. As of September 27, 2021, there were 537 respondents (response rate: 53.7%). The regression analysis showed that the independent variables of group C (service delivery) were most influential, followed by those of groups B (human-related factors) and A (office hardware) (adjusted R2 value: .58). This is consistent with the results of the author’s Internet survey of users of Osaka City Government’s ward offices.

We conducted a questionnaire survey of public hospitals across the country of Japan in order to analyze the issues and challenges concerning personal data protection faced by medical institutions managed by local municipalities in Japan. The reason for targeting public hospitals is that they are more closely related to the regional medical care plan. Questionnaires were sent to all municipal hospitals (887 hospitals with 20 or more beds that are members of the Japan Municipal Hospital Association: JMHA). Key parts of the findings were published as research material in another journal in 2018. This paper summarizes and analyzes the unpublished portion of the 2017 questionnaire survey by the authors. The analysis of the results focuses on the characteristics of the municipal hospitals surveyed and the use of clinical indicators compared by the size of hospitals. While many small and medium-sized hospitals use a common form of consent for the use of personal information, and many large hospitals have specific consent forms for each department (26.4%). Concerning primal method for disposing or deleting personal information, the most chosen item among small and medium-sized hospitals was the incineration or dissolution method (62.5%); the percentage of contractors outsourcing was relatively high in large hospitals (39.5%). In addition, we found the differences between large and small/medium hospitals concerning the use of the clinical indicators. The most used indicator is average length of hospitalization and the rate of hospital bed utilization (80.4%).

Research trends in studies of local governments in Japan have been analysed quantitatively using text-mining methods on approximately 35 years of article titles from the Journal of Urban Management and Local Government Research, from its first issue (1985) to the vol. 35, no. 1 (2020). Co-occurrence network analysis and correspondence analysis were conducted to determine the changes in research interests during the target period. Substantially more research on accounting, finance, management, and reform was seen in the target journal after 1980. The extracted words prefecture, city, case, evaluation, and analysis show the features of local government studies in Japan after the enactment of decentralization reforms in March 2000. The author interprets the first dimension of the configuration figures of correspondence analysis as an axis of accounting and time; the second dimension concerns financial accountability; and the third dimension concerns public enterprise. The publisher association of the journal has a large number of members who specialise in accounting and local finance, including certified public accountants and tax accountants, and the characteristics of such a membership structure are reflected in these results.

Using an online survey, this study investigated determining factors related to customer satisfaction with counter services at ward offices (Kuyakusho) in Osaka City, Japan, focusing on direct experiences at these service counters. During a two-day survey period, responses from 400 women, aged 30–59 years, who had visited a ward office over a one-month period were collected. The questionnaire comprised three categories of multiple-choice questions: A) hardware (e.g., physical aspects), B) software (e.g., staff responses), and C) services (e.g., administrative services). Principal component analysis and multiple regression analysis were conducted on each question category concerning various aspects of public service provision. The regression analysis indicated that group C (service delivery quality) had the strongest influence on the dependent variables (ZY1), followed by group B and group A. Adjusted R2 value is.60.

This study distributed on-site surveys to examine customer satisfaction with the counter services provided at a local government branch office (Shisho) in Higashihiroshima City, Japan, with a particular focus on direct experiences at the physical service counters. We obtained a total of 240 responses over six weekdays during the survey period. The multiple-choice questionnaire items were divided into three groups, including A) hardware (e.g., physical aspects), B) software (staff responses), and C) services (e.g., administrative practices). Results were then subjected to both a principal component analysis and multiple regression analysis. Among all explanatory variables comprising groups A) through C), the regression analysis showed that group B) (i.e., software, particularly in relation to human factors) was the most important for the dependent variables, followed by C) and A), respectively (adjusted R2 value of .51; Model 2).

This paper quantitatively explains research trends in postwar administrative studies in Japan using statistical analyses of nearly 40 years of article titles from Public Administration Review Quarterly, from its first issue (1978) to the 165th issue (2019). Co-occurrence network analysis and correspondence analysis revealed changes in research interests. There was substantially more research on administrative reforms through the post-war Showa and Heisei eras. The configuration figures of correspondence analysis can be interpreted to mean that the first dimension concerns administrative reforms; the second dimension concerns historical events/administrative systems; and the third dimension concerns evaluations and Kaizen. Co-occurrence network analysis showed that the studies during the Showa era (1978-1988) could be partly characterized by the two extracted compound words: the United States and the United Kingdom. Japan became a feature of studies of public administration during the Heisei era (1989–2018). These features are basically consistent with the previous quantitative studies.

Government evaluations in Japan are linked to the business culture. This study investigated government evaluations in cities and towns/villages using primary survey data from 2014 and 2015. The dominant method was Jimujigyo Hyoka, a cross-sectional evaluation of programs using performance measures, implemented by 80% of municipalities with government evaluations. Cities were more likely than smaller municipalities to have implemented evaluations (84.6% vs. 37.4%). Almost none of the smaller municipalities had implemented evaluations because of the lack of resources. The main problems were the lack of clarity and internal consistency in the results and the effort and workload involved.