Local News

Former Saga City Mayor Toshiyuki Kinoshita announced he will run as an independent candidate in the next election for Fukuoka City mayor. He will likely oppose incumbent Hiroshi Yoshida and a Communist Party candidate. Kinoshita is a veteran of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries, and a well-known government reformer who advised the national government in its televised policy reviews last year. He promoted the privatization of the municipal gas company during his term in Saga, which was a matter of controversy. He lost his reelection bid during an election held with the first participation of four outlying districts that had been incorporated into the city.