Mr. Harasawa is elected mayor of Yokohama for the first time, defeating 6 other candidates including his predecessor Mr. Yamanaka.

Votes were counted in the Yokohama mayoral election following the resignation of the previous mayor on the 18th, and Atsumi Harazawa (59), an independent and new lawyer, secured his first election by defeating a total of six candidates, including former independent and former mayor Takeharu Yamanaka (54), and five newcomers.

The issue was whether to give confidence to Mr. Yamanaka, who had resigned due to power harassment against a senior city official and was running for office again. "I want to put the citizen's perspective first and make Yokohama a good town," Harasawa said at the election office. On the other hand, Yamanaka, who was defeated, said, ``I'm sorry for my lack of ability.''

Mr. Harasawa is running an organizational campaign with the support of the Komeito City Council, in addition to recommendations from prefectural organizations of the Liberal Democratic Party, Japan Restoration Party, and Democratic Party of the People. He advocated improving disaster preparedness and strengthening the financial base, and drew on his experience as a lawyer to garner support by calling for the restructuring of the city's government.

Mr. Yamanaka apologized for his power harassment incident, stressing, ``As the perpetrator, there are measures I must take.'' The government appealed for its track record of providing independent subsidies for childbirth costs, but to no avail. Even former House of Representatives member Kazuma Nakatani (43), who received support from the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, did not gain traction.