Yokohama Mayor Takeharu Yamanaka reportedly told supporters Friday that he would resign over allegations of power harassment against city employees.
The move comes after a third-party investigation confirmed seven instances of harassment and demands by three political parties in the city assembly — the Liberal Democratic Party, the Constitutional Democratic Party and Komeito — that he step down.
Yamanaka, a 53-year-old former professor at Yokohama City University, was first elected mayor in 2021, beating the incumbent and another candidate supported by then-Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga. His specialties are medicine and data science, and he touted himself as an “expert on the coronavirus” amid the pandemic.
He came into office vowing to practice “data driven” municipal management. As a professor, he served on a Cabinet Office committee that reviewed the accreditation system for math, data science and artificial intelligence education programs, and the Education Ministry’s council for science and technology policy.
Backed by the LDP, the CDP and Komeito, he won his second term in 2025, defeating his nearest rival by nearly 400,000 votes.
But in January, Atsushi Kubota, a senior city official, went public with allegations of power harassment by the mayor. A third-party investigation report released on July 30 revealed the scale of the abuse, which included yelling at Kubota and throwing documents, threatening to die by suicide (seppuku) if Yokohama’s bid for an international conference was unsuccessful, miming shooting Kubota with a gun, calling senior officials “human scum” and “useless,” and banning them from entering the mayor’s office.
At an Aug. 13 meeting between Yamanaka and Yokohama city assembly members, he said that while he didn’t see his actions as a form of harassment at the time, he now realizes the pain he had caused.
“I feel that many people, including the former head of personnel (Kubota) and related staff, were suffering because of my words and actions,” Yamanaka said.
The next day, the Yokohama city assembly chapters of the LDP, Komeito and the CDP demanded that he resign or face a no-confidence vote in next month’s assembly, where the three parties hold a majority.
Yamanaka’s resignation, if it takes place, would start the clock for an election to take place within 50 days. It’s unclear who might step up to run, and whether the major ruling and opposition parties would once again rally behind a unified candidate.
Whoever is the next mayor will lead the city’s hosting of the International Horticultural Expo next year, a major event which Yokohama hopes will further local economic revitalization and one that has national government support.
The expo, which runs from March 19 to Sept. 26, is expected to draw 10 million admission-paying visitors.