Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto, who tendered his resignation to the city assembly Feb. 7, lost his job Feb. 27 after the assembly declined to consent to his resignation. It’s another step in a process that is set to culminate in a mayoral election March 23.
Osaka residents may have difficulty understanding why the election is even necessary. That’s because Hashimoto’s sudden move to step down is nothing more than a political gambit to get support for his pet idea of integrating Osaka Prefecture and the city of Osaka to form a single metropolitan entity called Osaka-to.
Unable to view this article?
This could be due to a conflict with your ad-blocking or security software.
Please add japantimes.co.jp and piano.io to your list of allowed sites.
If this does not resolve the issue or you are unable to add the domains to your allowlist, please see out this support page.
We humbly apologize for the inconvenience.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.