15 Staff Members Resign Abruptly — The Real Trouble Inside Kamakura City Hall

Fifteen employees abruptly retire

In Fuji TV’s popular drama series Saigo Kara Nibanme no Koi, Kiichi Nakai (63) plays the protagonist Kazuhira Nagakura, who serves as both the head of Kamakura City’s Tourism Promotion Division and the secretary division, and later as director of tourism promotion. In Zoku Zoku Saigo Kara, he appears post-retirement. Diligent, meticulous, and caring toward his subordinates — though somewhat inflexible — this character pours his passion into promoting tourism in Kamakura. While occasionally scolding his staff, he is portrayed as a dependable, trusted superior.

Within the drama, Kazuhira’s earnestness is often depicted in a heartwarming, humorous light, endearing him to viewers. Even after retirement, his continued work as a consulting supervisor gives the Kamakura City Hall a warm, welcoming image. In the show, there’s even a scene where the current mayor asks him to run in the next mayoral election, reflecting his perceived leadership and trustworthiness.

However, the real Kamakura City Hall was facing troubles quite unlike the drama’s gentle atmosphere.

In March 2025, an unusual event occurred when 15 staff members suddenly resigned all at once. This mass resignation appears to reveal deep-rooted issues within Kamakura City Hall.

“At the regular council meeting held on March 7, the 2024 fiscal year’s retirement allowance budget was approved. But then, at the regular meeting on the fiscal year’s final day, March 25, a proposal was suddenly submitted for an additional 67 million yen to cover retirement allowances for 15 more people. In other words, these 15 staff members abruptly decided to resign sometime in March,” explains Kamakura City Assembly member Tatsushiro Nagashima (60).

Considering Kamakura City’s total workforce is around 1,300, the sudden resignation of over 1% of the staff is highly irregular.

At the March 25 meeting, it was revealed that none of the retirees were executive-level personnel like division heads or deputy directors — rather, it was mid-level and younger staff who left.

Why did these employees, who were meant to support Kamakura City’s future, choose to leave? It seems the decision may have been driven by longstanding, ingrained issues unique to the culture within Kamakura City Hall.

The one most at fault is the mayor

Nagashima, who has continued to pursue this issue, revealed the reality of the ingrained culture within City Hall.

“There are all sorts of problems piling up, but the one most at fault is the mayor (Takashi Matsuo, 51). Right now, Kamakura City is embroiled in a major controversy over plans to relocate the city hall. However, an ordinance to officially change the main city hall’s address was rejected, so realistically, it’s impossible. Despite that, the mayor insists ‘I will absolutely move it’ and tries to push it through forcibly — of course, with no progress. As a result, I’ve heard from staff that there have been occasions where the mayor has raised his voice at senior officials.

He’s been in office for 16 years since 2009, but as a leader, he can’t make decisions or issue clear directions. In the end, staff are forced to deal with problems in an ad hoc, stopgap way, and if something goes wrong, senior officials get reprimanded by the mayor.

This attitude and behavior from the top trickle down through the organization, and ultimately it’s the younger staff who bear the brunt. That’s the current reality of Kamakura City Hall. In this warped environment created over 16 years of Matsuo’s leadership, there are apparently even senior officials engaging in behavior verging on workplace harassment. In fact, most of the whistleblowing reports I’ve received have specifically named department heads and above. As a result, I believe it led to those 15 young staff members resigning all at once.”

Voices of distress have indeed emerged from within the workplace. In February 2025, a letter reached Councilor Nagashima. It alleged that staff had quit because of harassment from superiors. Since then, more accusations arrived via email and letters — five reports since the start of this year alone, providing glimpses into the reasons behind the mass resignations. Here’s an excerpt from one of the emails Nagashima received:

“I apologize for this sudden message. Due to various circumstances, I must withhold my name and personal information, and I ask for your understanding. I’m writing about workplace harassment within Kamakura City Hall. I heard that recently, a staff member was subjected to severe harassment from a superior, became mentally unwell, and resigned late last year.

That superior (name omitted to prevent identification) normally shows no signs of such behavior, but would suddenly fly into a rage. The staff member who resigned was reportedly scolded repeatedly in front of other colleagues. Officially, the reason given for their resignation was that they struggled to adjust to a new department after a transfer, but in their previous workplace, they had been a highly capable staff member, trusted by their superiors.

It’s impossible that this person’s superior wasn’t aware of what was happening. Couldn’t the workplace have made efforts to protect this staff member — for example, by disciplining or correcting the superior?

Even if that wasn’t the case, a workplace where employees suffering until their minds break are effectively abandoned is unacceptable.”

While this particular email referred to a staff member who resigned at the end of 2024, it highlights the attitude of senior officials turning a blind eye to harassment and reveals an organizational culture that neglects its young employees.

The mayor’s response was

Another letter also revealed how Mayor Matsuo’s demeanor was having a serious effect on the workplace environment:

“The mayor is quick to lose his temper with anyone who isn’t a yes-man, and I’ve heard no managers feel able to speak their minds (I was told by a former department head that he tends to block out any unpleasant information — a textbook case of a long-running autocratic administration). There’s no way we could consult such a person directly.”

In Kamakura City, aside from a harassment consultation desk, there’s also a direct hotline for sending opinions to the mayor. The phrase no way we could consult such a person directly appears to refer to this hotline. Regarding this letter, at the March 25 regular council meeting, Councilor Nagashima questioned Mayor Matsuo, to which the mayor replied:

“Since it involves people interacting with people, various things do happen within the city office. We intend to carefully observe these matters one by one, ensuring that no single individual bears too much burden or becomes isolated. I want to manage the organization while keeping a close watch to prevent such things.”

On the matter of the 15-person simultaneous resignation, Nagashima and Mayor Matsuo’s positions remained at odds. So how does Mayor Matsuo view this current situation? When Kamakura City Hall was contacted for comment, the following written statement was issued on behalf of the mayor:

“I believe the ideal is for Kamakura City staff to work with energy and fulfillment, developing themselves while contributing their abilities to city administration. At the same time, as part of broader societal trends, we recognize that more people are seeking career changes and skill development due to shifts in personal career direction and life stages. While it’s very unfortunate when someone resigns from Kamakura City, we respect each individual’s chosen path in life.”

As for Councilor Nagashima’s criticism that Mayor Matsuo himself is the cause behind the wave of young staff resignations:

“For my part, I want Kamakura City Hall to be a place where each employee can realize their career goals and grow together with the organization and community. I’ve made efforts to communicate openly with staff, rather than merely pushing my own views one-way. Through this communication, we’ve been working to reform the organizational culture. I take the councilor’s concerns seriously, and will continue dedicating myself to building a workplace where employees can work with energy and purpose.”

That said, regarding the content of the whistleblower letters, the response stopped short of acknowledging any harassment, stating only that we take it seriously that a letter reached a city council member (Councilor Nagashima). It seems the city has yet to officially recognize the reality of harassment allegations. The city council is expected to continue investigating both the harassment issues and the factors behind the mass resignations moving forward.

One can only hope the real Kamakura City Hall might, even slightly, move closer to the cooperative, warm workplace atmosphere depicted around Kazuhira Nagakura in the drama.