Yokohama mayor set to resign over allegations of power harassment

Yokohama Mayor Takeharu Yamanaka reportedly told supporters Friday that he would resign over allegations of power harassment against city employees.

The move comes after a third-party investigation confirmed seven instances of harassment and demands by three political parties in the city assembly — the Liberal Democratic Party, the Constitutional Democratic Party and Komeito — that he step down.

Yamanaka, a 53-year-old former professor at Yokohama City University, was first elected mayor in 2021, beating the incumbent and another candidate supported by then-Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga. His specialties are medicine and data science, and he touted himself as an “expert on the coronavirus” amid the pandemic.