Surprise win: Japanese woman living in Belgium becomes mayor of district in Tokyo

In a huge surprise win, a Japanese woman, who has been living in Belgium, has been selected as a mayor of a district in Tokyo after the elections. The 47-year-old woman, who is known as Satoko Kishimoto, became popular with the help of her online campaign. For a decade, Kishimoto has been living in Leuven city of Belgium along with her husband and children. She has been working as a project coordinator for the not-for-profit Transnational Institute in Amsterdam. Kishimoto has now become the mayor of Suginami city. This city encompasses 500,000 people and is more than 5,800 miles away from her present home. Kishimoto won by just 200 votes.

In recent weeks, Kishimoto has travelled to Japan for campaigning in person. Olivier Hoedeman, husband of Kishimoto, said that the result of the election has come as a “huge surprise”.

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“During the Covid crisis, when everything happened online, Satoko participated a lot in online public debates in Japan from Leuven. Satoko is very interested in politics and through her work for the Transnational Institute in Amsterdam, she knows a lot about it too. She became very popular with the progressive movement in Japan and was asked to run for mayor in Suginami,” Hoedeman told Flemish radio.

“Satoko lived the first 25 years of her life in Japan. After that, she moved to the Netherlands and then to Leuven, where we have lived together for more than 10 years and now have two children. The election result came as a huge surprise. Satoko defeated the conservative mayor in office. Apparently, her political message appealed to many citizens. Satoko wants less privatisation and more citizen participation,” Hoedeman added.

Hoedeman said, “Our youngest son is still in secondary school and still has a few years to go. So, moving to Japan is not going to be so easy. We still have to think about it.”

(With inputs from agencies)

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