Former Akashi Mayor Izumi to Run in Upper House Race

Kobe, March 24 (Jiji Press)--Fusaho Izumi, former mayor of the western Japan city of Akashi, Hyogo Prefecture, on Monday announced his candidacy for this summer's election for the House of Councillors, the upper chamber of the Diet.

Izumi, 61, said he will run as an independent in the Hyogo constituency. He is expected to be backed by the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan and the Democratic Party for the People, as well as the Hyogo branch of the Japanese Trade Union Confederation, or Rengo.

"People's daily lives are difficult now," he told a press conference in Kobe, the capital of Hyogo. "It is the responsibility of politics to reach out to those in hardship."

Since leaving the mayor's office, Izumi has appeared on television. But he said he could not change society by spreading his views. "I was frustrated," he said.

Regarding his plan to run as an independent, Izumi said, "I want to be a symbol of unity for a common purpose."

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]