{"id":179365,"date":"2026-08-27T10:49:18","date_gmt":"2026-08-27T01:49:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/?post_type=news&#038;p=179365&#038;lang=en"},"modified":"2026-08-27T10:49:18","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T01:49:18","slug":"former-meti-official-plans-fukuoka-mayoral-run","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/en\/news\/former-meti-official-plans-fukuoka-mayoral-run\/","title":{"rendered":"Former METI Official Plans Fukuoka Mayoral Run"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Hisaya Watanabe, a 58-year-old company president from Fukuoka&#8217;s Sawara Ward, intends to run in the next Fukuoka mayoral election. Born in Kitakyushu, Watanabe worked for the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and related organizations for about 10 years before entering the private sector. He currently heads a trading company. Watanabe says he wants to propose reforms to regional administrative systems, beginning with how local government units are organized. He is expected to hold a news conference soon to formally explain his candidacy and policy positions. The Fukuoka mayoral election is scheduled to be announced on November 1, with voting to take place on November 15. <strong>Source:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/newsdig.tbs.co.jp\/articles\/rkb\/2893334?display=1\" target=\"_blank\">RKB News<\/a> \/ <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nikkei.com\/article\/DGXZQOJC266O80W6A820C2000000\/\" target=\"_blank\">Nikkei<\/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\/08\/fnn_former-meti-official-for-fukuoka-mayoral-run_2026_cl.jpg?resize=1346%2C750&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"1346\" height=\"750\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-179366\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/fnn_former-meti-official-for-fukuoka-mayoral-run_2026_cl.jpg?w=1346&amp;ssl=1 1346w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/fnn_former-meti-official-for-fukuoka-mayoral-run_2026_cl.jpg?resize=300%2C167&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/fnn_former-meti-official-for-fukuoka-mayoral-run_2026_cl.jpg?resize=1024%2C571&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/fnn_former-meti-official-for-fukuoka-mayoral-run_2026_cl.jpg?resize=768%2C428&amp;ssl=1 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><br \/>\nPhoto: RKB 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>Hisaya Watanabe, a 58-year-old company president from Fukuoka&#8217;s Sawara Ward, intends to run in the next Fukuoka mayoral election. Born in Kitakyushu, Watanabe worked for&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30292,"featured_media":179366,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","tags":[],"class_list":["post-179365","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","location-fukuoka-city","news-category-politics","en-US"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/179365","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=179365"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/179366"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=179365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=179365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}