Nagoya Mayor Takashi Kawamura easily won re-election to a fourth term Sunday on popular support for his tax reduction policies.
Kawamura, 68, who leads a local political party called Tax Cut Japan, ran against two other candidates — Masateru Iwaki, a 62-year-old former deputy mayor and lawyer backed by the Social Democratic Party, and Toshimitsu Ota, a 68-year-old former company employee.
Kawamura won by a landslide as his tax cut policies drew backing from a wide range of voters. According to the final tally, Kawamura collected 454,837 votes while Iwaki garnered 195,563 and Ota 20,099.
Kawamura, a former member of the House of Representatives, became Nagoya's mayor in 2009 but resigned in January 2011 in the midst of a confrontation with the municipal assembly over his tax cut plan. He ran again and was re-elected the following month.
He conducted a one-year municipal tax cut for companies and individuals in fiscal 2010 and pushed through a 5 percent cut starting in fiscal 2012. He has also pressed for a plan to replace Nagoya Castle's concrete main tower with a wooden structure in 2022 to make the major tourist spot more closely resemble the original.
"The result shows people's will," Kawamura told his supporters Sunday night. "I will cut taxes even by ¥1. (The plan to change Nagoya Castle's tower) to a wooden structure is something everybody wants," he said.
Voter turnout was 36.90 percent, 2.45 points less than in the previous election in 2013.
