YOKOHAMA (Kyodo) Official campaigning for the Yokohama mayoral election commenced Sunday with two former corporate executives running as independents and a local Japanese Communist Party chapter official filing for candidacy.
The three candidates are former Daiei Inc. Chairwoman Fumiko Hayashi, 63, Kenji Nakanishi, 45, former deputy president of JPMorgan Securities Japan Co., and Masahiko Okada, 43, executive member of the JCP's Kanagawa prefectural chapter and a former reporter for the party's organ Shimbun Akahata.
Hayashi is supported by the major opposition Democratic Party of Japan and the small opposition People's New Party. The ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition partner, the New Komeito party, are not officially supporting any of the candidates but are effectively backing Nakanishi.
The election to select a successor to outgoing Yokohama Mayor Hiroshi Nakada will be held Aug. 30 alongside the House of Representatives election.