A JCP member elected as a town mayor

Residents of a small town with an ancient atmosphere, often referred to as a "Little Kyoto", have chosen a Japanese Communist Party member as their mayor. On May 23, Okumura Tadatoshi, 56, beat the incumbent mayor and became the mayor of Izushi Town in Hyogo Prefecture. The town is famous for soba (buckwheat noodles) and attracts many tourists. Akahata on May 25 featured his victory as follows:

"I never dreamed Okumura could win, but I'm so glad that he was elected to be our mayor. The former mayor was always surrounded by nasty rumors and was working on a municipal merger, so we wanted a new town mayor," said a 52-year-old retail shop owner.

In this region, a merger of one city and five towns, including Izushi Town, was under way and was to be completed in March next year. However, many Izushi town people had deep concerns about the merger plan. "It's an absorption to the neighboring city of Toyo-oka. Without the name of Izushi Town, we may no longer manage to live on tourism," they were saying.

In December 2002, the town people, who wanted to decide the merger by themselves, founded an association consisting mainly of employees of the town tourist center and soba restaurant owners. A survey conducted by the association last February showed that 87.3 percent of the town people wanted a local referendum to decide whether to merge or not while 12.6 percent of them supported the merger.

However, the former mayor kept refusing to conduct a referendum and accepted the new city's name as Toyo-oka City on the grounds that "there's no choice." This meant that Izushi Town would be absorbed by its neighbor, Toyo-oka City. The town people got very angry because the former mayor was initially telling the people that it would be an equal merger.

A bill to promote the merger was rammed through the Izushi Town Assembly on May 11. On the following day, members of the association had a lengthy discussion about the town's future, and eventually decided to put up their own candidate for the mayoral election. "We thought that the town people would laugh at us if we as association members didn't do anything," a member said. They discussed, "If we want a victory, Okumura is the only person. For 30 years since he became a member of the Izushi Town Assembly, he has never lied to us," and requested Okumura to run for the election. He announced his candidacy on May 13, only five days before the election campaigning was to start.

Challenging a Goliath

On the first day of his campaign, only 60 people came to Okumura's campaign office, while 400 assembled at the incumbent camp. The Hyogo governor, the Hyogo vice-governor, and some of the Hyogo Prefectural Assembly members were in town to back up the incumbent who was also supported by the construction industry. In the 2003 House of Representatives general election, the JCP in this town got 142 votes, but the parties supporting the former mayor got 5,488 votes. "I was like an ant challenging a Goliath," Okumura recalled.

In the campaign, Okumura promised that he would disclose official information concerning the merger and deal with it by listening to and consulting with the people, that he would establish a clean administration, and that he would cut the mayor's salary and retirement bonus in half.

His appeal won the town people's hearts. The number of people visiting Okumura's campaign office or becoming his campaigners was increasing each day. It became a big movement.

Okumura gained the town people's trust. The former mayor is the owner of a propane gas company. When rebuilding public houses owned by the town government, his company won the contracts after he changed the plan for the heat source of the houses from electricity to gas. Many town people were fed up with his moneyed interests. In contrast, Okumura is known as an honest man having nothing to do with personal greed.

LDP members lead campaign to elect JCP member

Okumura's election campaign was ironically ed by Liberal Democratic Party members.

A 55-year-old LDP member who enthusiastically supported Okumura said, "If the former mayor had been reelected, he would have feathered his nest again. I supported Okumura to change our town. Being a JCP member or an LDP member doesn't matter. In order to improve Izushi, I will keep supporting him."

Shibuya Katsuhiko, a 59 year-old LDP member and Okumura's campaign manager said, "Residents gave their verdict on the city administration which ignored the public needs and hunted for concessions."

The new mayor stated, "I have fought in nine elections. This time, the residents' power was really impressive. I'd like to establish a residents-centered town administration by disclosing as much information as possible in cooperation with residents."

Struggle to promote local industry

When Okumura was first elected to the town assembly at the age of 25, he received one of the largest number votes among the candidates. At that time, he was the leader of the local youth association. He served as an eight-term town assembly member, longer than any other member of the town assembly.

Cooperating with other party members when there is a common ground among them, Okumura has made efforts as a town assembly member to meet the demands of residents.

Okumura owns a restaurant serving soba (buckwheat noodle), Izushi's specialty. Although he used to work for a woodwork manufacturer, he had to change his job due to the serious economic recession. By striving to support dozens of soba noodle restaurant owners through increasing subsidies to buckwheat farmers, he has promoted the development of the local specialty. Okumura now is the director of the a soba noodle restaurant owners' union.

Izushi Town in Hyogo Prefecture

About 11,400 people are living in Izushi Town, often called "Little Kyoto". It was a castle town during the Edo era. It is famous for soba noodles, pickles, and pottery. (end)