Three candidates entered a delayed mayoral race in Otsuchi, Iwate Prefecture, on Tuesday to fill the vacancy left by the death of Koki Kato in the March 11 earthquake and tsunami disaster.
Yutaka Ikarigawa, 60, who headed the town's general affairs division, former town assembly chief Daisaku Okamoto, 62, and Fumiichi Ogawa, 64, a resident of Utsunomiya, Tochigi Prefecture, who heads a Nagoya-based semipublic corporation, plan to run in Sunday's election.
The town has lacked a leader since Kato became the only local government head to die in the disaster. The term of the vice mayor expired in June.