Former Yokohama mayor embroiled in harassment scandal to seek reelection

Yokohama – After resigning earlier in September over a harassment scandal, former Yokohama Mayor Takeharu Yamanaka plans to run for reelection, sources said Sunday.

Yamanaka, 54, is expected to announce his candidacy at a news conference as early as Monday. The mayoral election in the capital of Kanagawa Prefecture is set to take place Oct. 18.

So far, five people have declared their candidacies — lawyer Atsumi Harasawa, 59; company manager Atsushi Fukuyama, 37; former lawmaker Kazuma Nakatani, 43; Yuka Asaka, 46 and deputy leader of the Japanese Communist Party’s Kanagawa branch; and civic group representative Sachiko Fujikawa, 51.

Harasawa is backed by the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP)’s municipal chapter and the Democratic Party for the People’s prefectural chapter, while Nakatani has support from the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDP)’s prefectural chapter. Yamanaka’s candidacy is expected to make the race highly competitive.

Yamanaka resigned after a senior city official accused him of power harassment. An investigation by a third-party team recognized seven instances of inappropriate behavior, including remarks characterizing subordinates as “human scum” and “useless.”

After the team’s report was released in July, calls for his resignation mounted in the Yokohama assembly. He resigned on Sept. 7.

Yamanaka was first elected as Yokohama’s mayor in August 2021 after serving as a professor at Yokohama City University. He won a second term in last year’s election with support from the LDP, the CDP and Komeito.