Takashi Kawamura's landslide win Sunday in the Nagoya mayoral poll was a much-needed boost for the Democratic Party of Japan, whose image and reputation were badly damaged by the arrest in March of President Ichiro Ozawa's chief secretary over shady political donations.
Kawamura, 60, a former DPJ Lower House member, ran as an independent with DPJ support.
He garnered 514,514 votes, nearly double the number cast for the runnerup, Masahiko Hosokawa, 54, a former trade ministry bureaucrat backed by the Liberal Democratic Party-New Komeito ruling bloc.