Takeharu Yamanaka wins Yokohama mayoral election
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, who is from Yokohama saw his candidate choice Hachiro Okonogi defeated.
Observations:
Suga has watched his popularity in Japan crumble with each stumble. For a man who has always been good at personality politics (first politician in Japan to hold impromptu public campaign rallies) and was widely respected for his work as the person in charge of Covid response in 2020, it is a shock at how badly he has faltered as the Prime Minister.
To be fair, part of the reason why Takeharu Yamanaka won the mayor's race was likely due to a large number of people on the ballot. But this is not the first time the ballot had so many candidates, and the LDP won the Mayor's race.
Also, the resort casino was a very large issue in the Mmayor's race. Yamanaka opposed a casino resort being built in Yokohama. Okonogi supported it (as did 4 other candidates). Most of the public in Yokohama oppose it. Everyone I know in Yokohama opposes it. The man known as the “Don of Yokohama”, the former Yokohama Harbor Transportation Association chairman, 90-year-old Yukio Fujiki opposed the resort and threw his support behind Yamanaka
The Japanese government's pitiful handling of Covid is an albatross around the neck of many LDP politicians
So, the issues behind why Okonogi lost are varied. Still, for someone so close to a sitting Prime Minister, who is from the same city, to lose an important election is really rare in Japan. More-and-more people are talking about Suga no longer being the Prime Minister. Already 3 members of the party hae announced they are running for the party presidency next month; two of these are influential party members, internal affairs minister Sanae Takaichi, a close ally of Abe, and LDP policy chief Hakubun Shimomura.
Kishida and Kono will likely run as well. Though, former LDP Secretary-General Shigeru Ishiba has said he will not run (which is odd, given how power-hungry he is and the high likelihood he would win)