YOKOHAMA, Kanagawa Pref. (Kyodo) Yokohama Mayor Hiroshi Nakada filed his candidacy Sunday for the March 26 mayoral election along with two challengers disputing his achievements from the past four years.
The reform-minded Nakada, a former member of the House of Representatives, is backed by the Yokohama chapter of the Liberal Democratic Party and the Kanagawa chapter of the Democratic Party of Japan as well as New Komeito.
Taking him on are oceanographer Yasuo Matsukawa, 64, backed by the Japanese Communist Party, and Kenjiro Endo, 63, a former Toshiba employee who also ran for governor in 2003 as an independent.
In kicking off his re-lection campaign, Nakada, 41, stressed his achievements and pledged to reform society from the capital of Kanagawa Prefecture.
Matsukawa blasted the Nakada administration for carrying out "an across-the-board reduction" in welfare funding.
Endo said one of his major pledges is to improve the quality of public servants.