Otsu

Kada Yukiko campaign poster in 2006

Shiga Prefecture’s Governor KADA Yukiko announced on Feb. 16, 2010 that she will run for a second term as governor of Shiga. She made the announcement at Shiga Prefecture’s legislative assembly in Otsu.

Her first four-year term as Shiga governor will end this summer when gubernatorial elections will be held. She seeks wide support among the people of Shiga without relying on any single political party. She plans to draw up a manifesto for her second term while incorporating the opinions of the people of Shiga. She plans to meet with various organizations in Shiga for feedback.

While the Japanese Communist Party plans to field a candidate for Shiga governor, the other major parties have not yet announced plans to field a candidate. Any candidate will have an uphill battle against Kada who is quite popular in Shiga. People affectionately call her “Kada-chan.”

The 59-year-old Kada is Shiga’s first female governor. Four years ago in 2006, her campaign slogan was, “Mottai nai” which means “Wasteful,” in reference to wasteful spending for unnecessary public works projects such as the shinkansen bullet train station in Ritto. This clicked with voters and helped her defeat incumbent governor Kunimatsu Yoshitsugu who was in favor of the shinkansen station. Kunimatsu happened to be a native of Ritto and the Ritto mayor was also his cousin, Kunimatsu Shoichi (still the Ritto mayor).

Kada kept her campaign promise and had the shinkansen train station in Ritto scrapped. This greatly disappointed the Ritto mayor, but most people in Shiga were opposed to the shinkansen station which would’ve been too close to Kyoto Station. Ritto is also not a major population center. (Shiga already has a shinkansen station in Maibara.)

Before becoming governor, Kada was a professor at Kyoto Seika University and a curator at Lake Biwa Museum in Kusatsu. I once met her briefly and found her to be very down-to-earth and easy to talk to. She could easily be your best friend’s mom. Although we foreigners cannot vote, Governor Kada has my support.

Although the swine flu scare/panic has largely passed, be aware the bug is still out there. On July 13, 2009, ten new cases of H1N1 patients were confirmed, increasing Shiga’s total to 40 people infected.

Eight students attending Higashi Otsu High School were found to be infected, along with a Ryukoku Univ. student, who was a graduate of Higashi Otsu High, and his junior high school brother. The college student had attended a school festival at his old high school on July 8.

On June 30, 2009, the 2008 incomes and assets of National Diet members, prefectural governors, and prefectural assembly members were made public as required by law. In 2008, Shiga Governor Kada Yukiko earned 17.27 million yen. This included her 15.06 million yen annual salary as governor and the rest was earned from royalties, speaking fees, writing fees, etc.

On the other hand, Otsu Mayor Mekata Makoto earned 18.73 million yen which included his 15.59 million yen salary as mayor. Other mayors of major cities in Shiga earned around 10 to 11 million yen. Shiga prefectural assembly members earned an average of 13.81 million yen which includes income from outside sources besides their salaries.

Since 2007, Governor Kada volunteered to give herself a 20% cut in her monthly salary which may explain why her salary is lower than Mekata’s.

National Diet members representing Shiga also made as much as 28.84 million yen (Okumura Tenzo from Koka).

Note that incomes 10 million yen or more in Japan are subject to a large chunk going to the tax man. (I speak from experience.)