JCP candidate reelected Kiso Town mayor by large margin

Japan Press Weekly

Japan Press Service Co., Ltd. is the only news agency providing information of progressive, democratic movements in Japan

JCP candidate reelected Kiso Town mayor by large margin

Defeating his rival by a large margin, Japanese Communist Party member Tanaka Katsumi was reelected mayor of Kiso Town in Nagano Prefeture on November 15. He is one of eight JCP member municipality heads.

Tanaka had served as former Kiso-Fukushima Town mayor for eight years since 1998 and became the first Kiso Town mayor as the result of the 2005 mayoral election after Kiso-Fukushima Town merged with three other villages.

As the first mayor of the new Kiso Town, Tanaka established a bus service system in which passengers can go anywhere within the town at a flat rate, provided free medical services for children up to 15 years old and for disabled persons, and improved public subsidies for townspeople’s health checkups, including gynecological checkups.

Aiming to revitalize former municipal areas, Mayor Tanaka proposed a town-building ordinance. After the enactment of the ordinance, Tanaka started a project to activate Kiso-Fukushima’s urban area in cooperation with residents. The national government highly evaluated this project as a model project for other local governments.

In support of these policies, voters chose Tanaka as their mayor, regardless of their political affiliation. A woman, who usually votes for the Liberal Democratic Party, said, “Tanaka is a person who listens to the townspeople and does things fairly. He handled the municipal merger very well and his town-building plan was praised even by people in other towns and cities.”

During the election, the Tanaka camp publicized what he will do and has done in protest against the opponent camp’s anti-communist attacks. The townspeople criticized the opponent for having nothing concrete to offer regarding his policy proposals.

Mayor Tanaka promised that he will carry out his policies by listening to the opinions of residents, including a plan to enable young people to stay in town by creating new industries based on the town’s natural advantages such as forests and mountains, and a plan to develop agriculture in combination with a sightseeing industry.

- Akahata, November 17, 2009