In 1996, Kawasaki became the first city in Japan to establish, via a local ordinance (jōrei), an entity that would provide its foreign resident community with a voice in the policy-making process. Christened the Kawasaki-shi Gaikokujin Shimin Daihyōshakaigi (Kawasaki City Representative Assembly for Foreign Residents), it was to play a functional and normative role as an agent of the Mayor. Having celebrated its twentieth anniversary in 2016, what factors might help us account for this longevity, given that it emerged as a cornerstone of one political era and ended up operating, for most of its formative years, under another? Drawing from the literature of historical institutionalism (HI), this paper argues that the Representative Assembly emerged out of, and remains sustained by, three features: an institutional pattern labelled the ‘Kawasaki Way’; a series of beneficial backdrops (lucky-breaks); and the Assembly’s own development and reformist-driven operational practice.

中文翻译：

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川崎外国居民代表大会令人惊讶的长寿：制度主义账户

1996 年，川崎成为日本第一个通过地方条例 (jōrei) 建立实体，为其外国居民社区在决策过程中发出声音的城市。将川崎市外籍人代表大会（川崎市外国人代表会议）命名为市长代表，发挥功能性和规范性的作用。2016 年庆祝了它的 20 周年，考虑到它作为一个政治时代的基石出现并最终在另一个政治时代的大部分形成时期运作，哪些因素可以帮助我们解释这种长寿？本文借鉴历史制度主义 (HI) 的文献，认为代表大会产生于三个特征，并由以下三个特征维持：一种标记为“川崎方式”的制度模式；一系列有益的背景（幸运休息）；以及大会自身的发展和改革驱动的行动实践。