---
title: "Japan Local Government Bond Association (Chihousai Kyoukai)"
aliases:
  - "Japan Local Government Bond Association"
  - "Chihousai Kyoukai"
  - "地方債協会"
  - "公益社団法人地方債協会"
  - "policy-finance/japan-local-bond-association"
domain: "policy-finance"
created: 2026-05-24
last_updated: 2026-05-24
last_tended: 2026-05-24
review_by: 2026-11-20
confidence: likely
tags: [policy-finance, local-government, public-credit, municipal-bonds, japan, industry-association]
status: active
sources:
  - "https://www.chihousai.or.jp/"
  - "https://www.chihousai.or.jp/02/"
  - "https://www.chihousai.or.jp/02/10.php"
---

# Japan Local Government Bond Association (Chihousai Kyoukai)

## TL;DR

The Japan Local Government Bond Association (公益社団法人地方債協会) is the public-interest incorporated association that coordinates, researches, and publishes on Japan's local-government bond market. It is the canonical published source for local-bond-market structure, issuance statistics, joint-issuance arrangements, and credit-system overviews — and the de facto reference body when reading the [[policy-finance/local-government-bond-market|local government bond market]] page on FinWiki.

This entry sits under [[policy-finance/INDEX|policy-finance index]] as the industry-association anchor for the local-government bond market, parallel to how [[policy-finance/national-federation-credit-guarantee-corporations|JFG]] anchors the 51 local credit guarantee corporations.

## 1. Institutional boundary

| Item | Reading |
|---|---|
| Japanese name | 公益社団法人地方債協会 |
| English name | Japan Local Government Bond Association |
| Legal form | Public-interest incorporated association (公益社団法人) |
| Established | 1948 (continuous lineage through postwar reorganization) |
| Members | Local governments, financial institutions, securities firms involved in local-bond issuance |
| Supervisory route | General-purpose association supervision; informal coordination with the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) on local-finance matters |
| FinWiki treatment | Association page under [[policy-finance/INDEX|policy-finance]], not a public-credit institution |

## 2. Function map

| Function | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Local-bond market research and publications | Publishes standard reference material on local-bond issuance statistics, market structure, and joint-issuance system. |
| Coordination of joint-issuance program | Plays a coordinating role in the joint local government bond (共同発行市場公募地方債) framework. |
| Training and information sharing | Hosts seminars and information sessions for issuer staff, underwriting financial institutions, and securities firms. |
| Industry voice on local-bond policy | Acts as the organized voice of the local-bond ecosystem in policy discussions with MIC and MoF. |
| Cross-reference for [[policy-finance/japan-finance-organization-municipalities|JFM]] and FILP material | Provides published context for understanding the relative roles of capital-market issuance, [[policy-finance/japan-finance-organization-municipalities|JFM]] lending, and Fiscal Loan Funds. |

## 3. Why it matters for FinWiki

The Association's published material is the principal openly-available source for:

- **Local-bond market structure** as covered in [[policy-finance/local-government-bond-market|local government bond market]] and [[financial-regulators/local-bond-market|JapanFG local-bond market]].
- **Joint local government bond mechanics**, including jointly-and-severally-liable structure and pricing.
- **Issuer-type breakdowns** (prefecture / designated city / ordinary city / town / village).
- **Statistical aggregates** that pair with [[policy-finance/japan-finance-organization-municipalities|JFM]] lending data and MoF FILP statistics.

For [[policy-finance/japan-policy-finance-system|Japan policy finance system]] analysis, the Association sits structurally where industry associations sit elsewhere in the system: not a lender, not a regulator, but the documentation and coordination layer that makes the market navigable.

## 4. System position

| Layer | Role | FinWiki route |
|---|---|---|
| Issuer | Prefectures, designated cities, municipalities | [[financial-regulators/local-govt-finance]] |
| Issuance arranger / underwriter | Megabanks, regional banks, securities firms | Bank / securities firm pages |
| Public-credit lender | [[policy-finance/japan-finance-organization-municipalities|JFM]], FILP | Public-credit institution pages |
| Industry association / documentation | Japan Local Government Bond Association | This page |
| Regulator / supervisor | MIC (local-finance) + MoF (FILP / bond consultation) | Government-policy material |

## 5. Boundary cases

- **Not a credit-rating agency**: The Association publishes market structure and statistics but does not assign credit ratings to local-government issuers.
- **Not [[policy-finance/japan-finance-organization-municipalities|JFM]]**: JFM is the joint local-government lending corporation. The Association is the industry coordination body.
- **Not a government agency**: It is a public-interest incorporated association, not a national-government office. Its coordinating power derives from member participation, not regulatory authority.
- **Not the 全国地方銀行協会**: The local regional-bank association (Zenginkyo's regional-bank federation) is separate; the Chihousai Kyoukai focuses specifically on local-government bond issuance.

## 6. Open questions

- How does the Association's joint-issuance coordinating role evolve as more smaller local governments seek joint-issuance access?
- What role does the Association play in any future green / transition local-government bond framework?
- How are the Association's published statistics reconciled with MoF FILP statistics and [[policy-finance/japan-finance-organization-municipalities|JFM]] disclosure?

## Related

- [[policy-finance/INDEX]]
- [[policy-finance/japan-policy-finance-system]]
- [[policy-finance/local-government-bond-market]]
- [[policy-finance/japan-finance-organization-municipalities]]
- [[financial-regulators/local-bond-market]]
- [[financial-regulators/local-govt-finance]]
- [[financial-regulators/jfc]]
- [[money-market/INDEX]]
- [[INDEX|FinWiki index]]

## Sources

- Japan Local Government Bond Association (地方債協会), official top page.
- Japan Local Government Bond Association, "地方債とは" overview pages.
- Japan Local Government Bond Association, English overview of local bonds in Japan.