Mayor of Yokohama Steps Down with Scandal

Mayor of Yokohama City, Takeharu Yamanaka, announced on August 28th that he would step down, taking responsibility of his power harassment on his staff. Although he had been refusing his resignation, the major parties in the city assembly requested him to leave. It is not unusual for a leader of local government resigns with scandal of harassment on the staffs. Yamanaka has not decided to run for the election to fulfill the vacant seat of the mayor. 

In January 2026, an officer of Yokohama city government held a press conference and asserted that he had suffered from power harassment by Yamanaka. He argued that he was personally insulted by Yamanaka on his management of his job. With a resolution of its city assembly, Yokohama city government launched a third-party committee for investigation.

 

According to the report of the committee in July, Yamanaka was involved in seven types of harassment on his staffs. They included barking, hitting desk and hurling paper documents at his staffs, ordering “hara-kiri” if the staff fails in a project, ruling the staffs backed by his power to control staffs’ positions, and rough words to his staffs such as “piece of junk,”“human scum” or “low-spec.”

 

In his press conference to announce his resignation, Yamanaka admitted his activities hurt confidence of the people, his staffs and city assembly. “It was insufficient for me to suppose how my speeches would be received by the people, considering my position as a mayor. He submitted his resignation to the chairman of city assembly. The election to fill the vacant seat of Yamanaka will be held within fifty days.

 

Yamanaka was elected the mayor of Yokohama in August 2021 with support of Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, upholding policies against national government at the time. They included introducing casino resort or having major public event in the time of COVID pandemics.

 

The prime minister at the time was Yoshihide Suga who was elected as a member of the Lower House from the single-seat district in Yokohama. He decided against all odds to hold Tokyo Olympic games which were taken place in late July and early August in 2021. That was why Yokohama mayor election 2021 was recognized as a yes-or-no voting to Suga administration.

 

Having a result of the election, in which a Yamanaka’s contender firmly supported by Suga failed, Suga administration suddenly slowed down after Yokohama mayor election and he stepped down as prime minister in October 2021. The Liberal Democratic Party is hopeful to field its own candidate in the election replacing Yamanaka.

 

Harassments caused resignation of local political leaders. Governor of Hyogo stepped down with his power harassment on his staffs in 2024. The governor, Motohiko Saito, was reelected in an election to fulfill the vacant seat. Governor of Fukui resigned in December 2025 with sexual harassement on his staffs. Political power of local leaders is sometimes paralleled with that of a president, making difference from prime minister, because they are directly elected by general voters. It is supposed that this strong mandate from voters leads to egoistic behavior of the leaders.

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