On Sunday, 18 October, Yokohama chose a mayor. Lawyer Atsumi Harasawa, 59, an independent running for the first time, took 552,207 votes, 39.49 percent of the total, according to the city’s election board. She beat six rivals. Asahi: she is the second woman elected mayor of Japan’s second-largest city. This is not a second term. It is her first.

The vote followed former mayor Takeharu Yamanaka’s resignation in September. A third-party inquiry in July found workplace harassment of city staff, including control through personnel power. Yamanaka accepted the findings, apologised and left. That is an administrative finding, not a criminal conviction. He still tried to come back; the count put him third.

Second was Atsushi Fukuyama, 37, a company manager, with 230,418 votes (16.48 percent). Yamanaka, 54, took 199,746 (14.28 percent), about 460,000 fewer than at his 2025 re-election, Asahi writes. Turnout was 45.56 percent, against 41.64 percent last time, up 3.92 points. Seven candidates. The figures are from the official table, not from an exit poll.

Harasawa ran as an independent. She had backing from local organisations of the Liberal Democratic Party, the Japan Innovation Party and the Democratic Party for the People, and from some Komeito city councillors. NHK World: she put her compliance work as a lawyer against a city hall stalled by scandal. Critics asked for governing experience; that remains a reservation, not a verdict.

She worked as a Japan Airlines aircraft mechanic, then became a lawyer. She has lived in Yokohama since she was three. After the win she spoke of support for older residents, of children and of disaster preparedness. She also ruled out, still Asahi, an integrated resort with a casino in her term: residents’ opposition, she said, has not changed. We have not turned a campaign line into law.

Yamanaka said the result was a harsh judgment by residents, especially on the harassment. He apologised to his backers and wished Harasawa would keep the city safe. Fukuyama, backed by Sanseito, said the party brought people to his meetings. Neither he nor Harasawa is installed by this article: the votes are counted; the oath is another step.

Image: Yokohama City Hall and The Tower Yokohama Kitanaka, 11 December 2022, Suicasmo, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. Not election night.

Sources consulted: Newcomer beats ex-mayor in Yokohama mayoral election — NHK World; Yokohama elects its 2nd female mayor after abuse scandal — The Asahi Shimbun; Yokohama mayoral election results table — Yokohama City Election Commission.