A 28-year-old former Foreign Ministry official is set to become the country's youngest mayor after beating the 61-year-old incumbent in an election in Osaka Prefecture.
Shuhei Azuma will assume office as mayor of Shijonawate on Friday, taking the title of youngest municipal chief from Yonosuke Terui, 32, mayor of the town of Esashi, Hokkaido, according to the National Association of Towns and Villages and the Japan Association of City Mayors.
Azuma will be the second-youngest mayor on record after Kotaro Shishida, who was elected in the city of Musashimurayama, Tokyo, in 1994 at age 27.
Running as an independent, Azuma, now a business consultancy employee, defeated the incumbent, Kazunori Doi.
"I feel great responsibility after becoming the youngest mayor (in Japan)," Azuma told reporters late Sunday. "I would like to vigorously push forward with my duties with my fellow citizens."
A Shijonawate native, Azuma entered the Foreign Ministry in 2014 after completing graduate school at Kyoto University. He quit the ministry after a year and a half to join the consultancy.
He raked in 10,659 votes, while Doi received 8,407, the final tally showed.
