The Japanese Sōmu-shō ( Japanese 総 務 省 , German "Ministry of General Affairs"; English Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications , " Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communication ", short: MIC ) was created on January 6, 2001 by the Merging of the Jichi-shō ( 自治 省 , "Ministry of Self- Administration ", English Ministry of Home Affairs ) with the Ministry of Post ( 郵政 省 , Yūsei-shō ) and the Sōmu-chō ( 総 務 庁 , "Authority for general affairs"; English. Management and Coordination Agency , "Office for Management and Coordination"). It is responsible for the administration and civil service, the postal and telecommunications systems, the tax system and the central government's assignments to the local authorities, the organization of elections and civil protection. Unlike the interior ministries of many other countries, it is not responsible for the police; the latter is subject to the supervision of the police authority, which is assigned to the cabinet office through the National Public Security Commission .
Since the ministry's budget includes central government allocations to local authorities, the second largest item in the budget after debt servicing, it accounts for around a quarter of the Japanese government's total budget .
