‘Dominated by old men’: Tokyo ward’s first female mayor takes on status quo

11 comments

1. * English Video corresponding to this article: [“Suginami’s Bicycling Female Mayor” – Press Conference with Kishimoto Satoko at The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nynKUHsTfrA)

   * Video: [Kishimoto Satoko arriving at Suginami City Hall by bicycle on first day as Mayor](https://twitter.com/tenshicos/status/1546702195865026560) (instead of a private chauffeured vehicle provided by the city)

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   * Related post: [Woman living in Leuven elected to be mayor in Japan – The Brussels Times](https://www.reddit.com/r/japan/comments/vha9hn/woman_living_in_leuven_elected_to_be_mayor_in/)

   * The Guardian: [Tokyo mayoral win a ‘huge surprise’ for candidate lately arrived from Belgium](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jun/21/tokyo-mayoral-win-a-huge-surprise-for-candidate-lately-arrived-from-belgium)

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   * Also, Kishimoto-san [wrote a book](https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/4087211134/) about public policy, discussing why it’s a bad idea to privatize the water supply and so on.

2. Fuck The Guardian, props to the mayor though

3. Dudes stay rockin’.

4. if she is tokyos first mayor, that means koike was a… oh no. I mean, its all cool.

5. good on her. I hope this speaks more to not just politics either. I still remember that olympic head for japan that made rude comments about women, got fired then the next guy who took over, did the same thing…

6. I was saying how Japan is an extremist on another post. Local election is another example.

   While LDP dominates the national election, local elections for majors or governors are all independents, except Osaka. [https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%83%BD%E9%81%93%E5%BA%9C%E7%9C%8C%E7%9F%A5%E4%BA%8B%E3%81%AE%E4%B8%80%E8%A6%A7](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%83%BD%E9%81%93%E5%BA%9C%E7%9C%8C%E7%9F%A5%E4%BA%8B%E3%81%AE%E4%B8%80%E8%A6%A7)

   I hope for more women majors or governors, because it would be more like “Japan” if more women are taking care of local “domestic” matters.

7. Not a big follower of Japanese politics and knew that it was bad, but damn, those female participation numbers are low.

8. She only relocated back to Japan because she won.

   Usual rhetoric but what specific, time bound, tangible commitment has she made?
   The Mayor for a ward role is akin to when they make a cat Station Master for a day.

   > “The first thing I have to do is make the city’s working environment more comfortable for women,” said Kishimoto, who campaigned on opposition to wasteful public works projects and in support of better childcare services and conditions for low-paid contract workers, most of whom are women. “But the reality is that it will take time. I want to see more women in management positions, but there is a huge hierarchy and women are not yet in a position to be able to step up.”

   See. She literally lists the reasons nothing will change during her term in office.

   Wonder if she’ll risk cycling in Suginami…

9. This headline demonstrates why the ‘old, white men’ line, frequently trotted out in Europe and the USA, is one third off-track. The issue is *old men* dominating politics; that can happen, and does happen, anywhere in the world. It doesn’t matter the colour of their skin.

10. Hell yeah. You tell em’

11. I’m all for women’s rights. In Japan they’re massively underrepresented.

    But I do wonder whether the OLD part of the equation is key here. Japan is sexist, but its also a gerontocracy. More youth (ie under….50?) representation could really serve them well.