35-Year-Old Independent Elected Fukui Governor for 1st Time

Fukui, Jan. 26 (Jiji Press)–A 35-year-old independent candidate has been elected governor of Fukui Prefecture, central Japan, after his predecessor resigned for sexual harassment against prefectural government workers. Takato Ishida, a former official at Japan’s Foreign Ministry, won his first term in Sunday’s Fukui gubernatorial election, becoming the youngest incumbent prefectural governor in the country. Ishida defeated his two rival candidates–Kenichi Yamada, a 67-year-old independent and former mayor of the Fukui city of Echizen, and Yukie Kanemoto, 67, an official at the Japanese Communist Party’s Fukui prefectural branch. In the election, the Liberal Democratic Party, the ruling force in national politics, was split, with members in the Fukui prefectural assembly supporting Yamada and members in the municipal assembly of the city of Fukui, the capital of the prefecture, backing Ishida. Ishida collected 134,620 votes, narrowly beating Yamada, who received 130,290 votes. Votes for Kanemoto totaled 15,735. Voter turnout stood at a record low of 46.29 pct, down from 51.08 pct in the previous Fukui gubernatorial election in 2023. During his campaigning, Ishida, who pledged to expand child-rearing support, among other things, drew voter support by actively using social media. On the planned Hokuriku Shinkansen Line extension from Tsuruga Station in Fukui and Shin-Osaka Station in Osaka Prefecture, Ishida followed former Governor Tatsuji Sugimoto’s stance of supporting the full opening of the bullet train line via a route linking the city of Obama, Fukui, and Kyoto Station in Kyoto Prefecture, located between Fukui and Osaka. Sanseito, an up-and-coming opposition party, supported Ishida in the poll. Yamada campaigned on his experience as Echizen mayor and deputy Fukui governor while securing support from the prefectural chapters of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, the Japan Innovation Party, the Democratic Party for the People and Komeito. But he failed to garner enough votes to surpass Ishida. After completing a course at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies, Ishida, a native of the city of Fukui, joined the Foreign Ministry in 2015. He served in posts including deputy consul at the Japanese Consulate-General in Melbourne before leaving the ministry in December 2025. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]