{"id":179603,"date":"2026-09-04T11:03:14","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T02:03:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/?post_type=news&#038;p=179603&#038;lang=en"},"modified":"2026-09-04T11:03:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T02:03:14","slug":"fukuoka-assembly-member-plans-mayoral-run","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/en\/news\/fukuoka-assembly-member-plans-mayoral-run\/","title":{"rendered":"Fukuoka Assembly Member Plans Mayoral Run"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Fukuoka City Assembly member Masaru Niimura has decided to run in the November mayoral election, KBC reported on September 3. The 46-year-old represents Minami Ward and is serving his third term after first winning election in 2015. His priorities would include urban issues linked to a growing visitor and commuter population, community disaster preparedness and children&#8217;s education. Niimura also intends to continue the city&#8217;s development momentum under Mayor Soichiro Takashima. Former economy ministry official Hisaya Watanabe has already declared his candidacy. Campaigning is scheduled to begin November 1, with voting on November 15. <strong>Source:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/kbc.co.jp\/news\/article.php?id=18084148&#038;ymd=2026-09-03\" target=\"_blank\">KBC News<\/a> \/ <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nishinippon.co.jp\/item\/1533966\/\" target=\"_blank\">Nishinippon Shimbun<\/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\/09\/fnn_masaru-niimura-for-fukuoka-mayoral-run_2026_cl.jpg?resize=1230%2C922&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"1230\" height=\"922\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-179604\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/fnn_masaru-niimura-for-fukuoka-mayoral-run_2026_cl.jpg?w=1230&amp;ssl=1 1230w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/fnn_masaru-niimura-for-fukuoka-mayoral-run_2026_cl.jpg?resize=300%2C225&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/fnn_masaru-niimura-for-fukuoka-mayoral-run_2026_cl.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/fnn_masaru-niimura-for-fukuoka-mayoral-run_2026_cl.jpg?resize=768%2C576&amp;ssl=1 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><br \/>\nPhoto: Hashida<\/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 City Assembly member Masaru Niimura has decided to run in the November mayoral election, KBC reported on September 3. The 46-year-old represents Minami Ward&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30292,"featured_media":179604,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","tags":[],"class_list":["post-179603","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\/179603","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=179603"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/179604"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=179603"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=179603"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}