{"id":178631,"date":"2026-07-10T11:49:31","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T02:49:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/?post_type=news&#038;p=178631&#038;lang=en"},"modified":"2026-07-10T11:49:31","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T02:49:31","slug":"takashima-recalls-rejecting-%c2%a550-million-demand","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/en\/news\/takashima-recalls-rejecting-%c2%a550-million-demand\/","title":{"rendered":"Takashima Recalls Rejecting \u00a550 Million Demand"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Fukuoka Mayor Soichiro Takashima said he rejected a request for \u00a550 million after deciding to run in the 2010 mayoral election, describing the experience as deeply shocking. Speaking at a news conference on July 8, Takashima confirmed details published in his 2018 book, saying an assembly member he had never previously met told him large sums of money were necessary to contest the election. Takashima said he clearly refused the request and emphasized that the incident left a lasting impression. He also commented on the ongoing controversy over alleged cash payments in the Fukuoka Prefectural Assembly, saying the reports had harmed the city\u2019s reputation nationwide. <strong>Source:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/news.web.nhk\/newsweb\/na\/nb-5010034100\" target=\"_blank\">NHK News<\/a> \/ <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tvq.co.jp\/news\/news.html?did=2026070800000003\" target=\"_blank\">TVQ News<\/a><\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/fnn_fukuoka-pref-assembly-cash-case-mayor-rejected_2026_cl.jpg?resize=1400%2C765&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"1400\" height=\"765\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-178632\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/fnn_fukuoka-pref-assembly-cash-case-mayor-rejected_2026_cl.jpg?w=1400&amp;ssl=1 1400w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/fnn_fukuoka-pref-assembly-cash-case-mayor-rejected_2026_cl.jpg?resize=300%2C164&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/fnn_fukuoka-pref-assembly-cash-case-mayor-rejected_2026_cl.jpg?resize=1024%2C560&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/fnn_fukuoka-pref-assembly-cash-case-mayor-rejected_2026_cl.jpg?resize=768%2C420&amp;ssl=1 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><br \/>\nPhoto: TVQ News<\/p>\n<p>Get Fukuoka and Kyushu\u2019s top stories delivered to your inbox. The Now is Fukuoka Now\u2019s free biweekly newsletter featuring local news, events, culture, business, and community updates in English. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/en\/mailmagazine\/\">Subscribe to The Now<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Summaries based on public content, errors may occur during translation. Images credited independently. Send feedback using <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/en\/contact\/\">this <strong>form<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Fukuoka Mayor Soichiro Takashima said he rejected a request for \u00a550 million after deciding to run in the 2010 mayoral election, describing the experience as deeply shocking&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30292,"featured_media":178632,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","tags":[],"class_list":["post-178631","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","location-fukuoka-prefecture","news-category-politics","en-US"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/178631","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30292"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=178631"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/178632"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=178631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=178631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}