Japan ex-mayor hit with 99 harassment claims wins council seat
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
Former Japanese mayor Hideo Kojima (right) handing over his resignation in February.
PHOTO: AFP
Follow topic:
TOKYO – A former Japanese mayor who resigned over 99 sexual harassment allegations has been elected as a town councillor, officials said Sept 8, sparking anger and shock online.
Mr Hideo Kojima stepped down in March 2024 after an official investigation accused him of incidents of harassment
An official in the town told AFP that Mr Kojima had been elected, with the town website showing he came in second among the 10 candidates who won seats.
“It proves residents trust me,” Mr Kojima, 75, told a local TV network on Sept 8, and warned: “Don’t ever mention (sexual harassment claims) again.”
Online users expressed shock over the election results.
“So voters in the town don’t care about employees who were sexually harassed? Shame on you,” one user said on X.
“I’m so shocked I’m speechless. I’m sorry for the women employees,” wrote another on the Yahoo Japan platform.
At a press conference in 2024, he denied some cases and wiped away tears as he described his brother scolding him.
He said he did not hug women employees as outlined in the investigation report, explaining that his gestures may have looked like a hug, but were not.
During its investigation, the committee conducted a survey among 193 workers in Kojima’s municipality.
Of the 161 who responded, around 53 per cent of men and 58 per cent of women said the mayor had done something that made them feel uncomfortable.
According to broadcaster NHK, Mr Kojima said he had not read the whole report, which alleged that he would tell subordinates that “his hands were fair and smooth... to force female employees to touch them”.
The report said he would also “show off his legs by rolling up his trousers, and tell them to touch”.
Some workers used disinfectant spray after being touched, the report said, also detailing inappropriate remarks and demands such as asking an employee to bend over.
The probe, launched following reports in the weekly Shukan Bunshun magazine, said the mayor had often patted women workers on their heads.
Mr Kojima said this had been meant to “express gratitude”.
The ratio of women politicians is still low in Japan.
The country ranked at 118th among 148 nations in the World Economic Forum’s gender gap index in 2025.
The global #MeToo movement was slow to pick up in Japan, where many victims are said to be too scared to come forward, but a handful of high-profile cases have recently forced a reckoning. AFP
