Hokkaido Village Mayor Backing Nuclear Site Survey Wins Re-Election

Kamoenai, Hokkaido, Feb. 22 (Jiji Press)–The incumbent mayor of Kamoenai, Hokkaido, who is positive about a survey for selecting a nuclear waste disposal site, secured re-election in Sunday’s mayoral poll in the northern Japan village. Masayuki Takahashi, 75, fended off two challengers to win a seventh term as Kamoenai mayor. During the campaign, Takahashi expressed his support for a plan to conduct a second-stage survey for a possible disposal site in the village, where a first-stage literature survey has already been completed. He said that accepting the second-stage boring survey does not mean that the village is set to host the disposal site. Of his two contenders, self-employed Kazuo Ida, 73, opposed the second-stage survey, while company employee Shinichi Kishi, 46, suggested conditional support. The second-stage survey requires the consent of both the prefectural governor and the mayor of the local municipality. Hokkaido Mayor Naomichi Suzuki currently opposes conducting the survey in Kamoenai. In the Hokkaido town of Suttsu, which has also undergone a first-stage survey, its mayor, who is also positive about a second-stage survey, was re-elected last October. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]