'Change Japan -- from Yokohama."
That's the motto of Hiroshi Nakada who, since 2002, has been the charismatic mayor of Japan's second-largest city. And change Yokohama he has, with a brand of populist politics that is very rare in a nation where rocking the status quo or trying to roll over vested interests is not only frowned on by the (often hidden) powers that be, but is also generally the stuff of political suicide.
Having first come into the public eye as the lawmaker who refused to wear a tie in the Diet in summer 2002 -- a stand that eventually led to the prime minister's popular "Cool Biz" campaign in 2005 urging office workers to shed their jackets and ties to save on air-conditioning costs -- the Yokohama-born mayor is now referred to with grudging respect as "Gomi no Nakada (Nakada of the Garbage)" for his introduction of stricter regulations regarding recycling of the city's trash.