Life at City Hall: Former Kamagaya Mayor Shimizu Speaks on Stress, Scandals, and Sacrifice

The city of Itō in Shizuoka Prefecture has drawn nationwide attention over its mayor’s academic credentials scandal. While saying, “Mayor Itō’s response is wrong,” there is also someone who adds, “But being the head of a municipality comes with many hardships.” That person is Seiji Shimizu (64), former mayor of Kamagaya City, Chiba Prefecture. Shimizu served as mayor of Kamagaya for five terms spanning 19 years until June 2021. In July, he published Mayor Flustered Diary (Sangokan Shinsha). Here, in his own words, he shares the reality of city office work and the difficult days of being mayor.

Read Part 1: [A Two-Shot with Shohei Ohtani and the Former Mayor of Kamagaya]

“Former Mayor of Kamagaya—From parachute candidate to 19 years across five terms.”
Seiji Shimizu’s latest bestseller, Mayor Flustered Diary, is now on sale.

“The real work of the mayor begins after 9 p.m.”

Shimizu explains:

“During the day, there are council sessions, and from the evening, nearly every day, there are dinners with the local fire brigade, various unions, and so on. Only after those dinners do I return to city hall to stamp my approval on pending documents delivered to the secretarial office. But until my third term, the mayor’s office had no air conditioning, which made summer tough. After 5 p.m., the central cooling for the building was shut off, so I had to work at night in an office where the temperature exceeded 30°C. I would throw the windows wide open and, nearly naked, check documents until after 11 p.m.”

Even lunchtime required care.

“At first, I ate in the staff cafeteria in the basement of city hall. Senior council members would often approach me loudly, saying things like, ‘Lunch in the cafeteria—how down-to-earth of you!’ I already stood out in the city office, and thanks to such comments, I felt even more watched. So from my second term onward, I began eating at the food court of the nearby Aeon Kamagaya Shopping Center. But as I became more recognizable as the mayor, I started getting stared at and whispered about.

In the end, the mayor’s office was the most comfortable place. I’d buy a convenience store bento for about 500 yen at the nearest 7-Eleven and eat it without worrying about being seen. After finishing the meal in about 10 minutes, I would take a 25-minute nap on the sofa in the mayor’s office. This was extremely effective. At the start of my tenure, I would sometimes nod off during afternoon council sessions, but thanks to those naps, I could attend with a clear head.”

Caught in the Middle with Prime Minister Koizumi’s Support

The annual income of the mayor of Kamagaya came to about 12 million yen after tax. However, since many expenses had to be paid out of pocket, life was far from comfortable.

“When a local Diet member sent me an invitation to a political fundraising party, as mayor I had no choice but to attend. Sometimes I was forced to buy 100,000 yen worth of tickets, even though each one cost 20,000 yen. I even considered whether these expenses could be covered publicly, but I had promised the citizens in my campaign to make the mayor’s entertainment expenses fully transparent. I couldn’t very well post on the city’s website, alongside the list of official expenses, ‘Purchased 100,000 yen worth of tickets for XX legislator’s party.’ So, with no choice, I paid for them myself.”

The head of a municipality that receives subsidies and local allocation tax also has to be mindful of relations with the national government. In the House of Representatives election of November 2003, Prime Minister Jun’ichirō Koizumi visited Kamagaya to support the Liberal Democratic Party candidate. Shimizu found himself caught in the middle.

“In my first mayoral election in July 2002, I received support from the Democratic Party (at the time), and even its leader, Naoto Kan, gave a campaign speech for me. If I were to attend Prime Minister Koizumi’s speech, it would seem disloyal to the Democratic Party. But if I didn’t attend, conservative citizens could accuse me of insulting the country’s prime minister.

Left with no good options, I chose to attend the National Conference of Young Mayors being held in Shizuoka Prefecture on the very day of Koizumi’s speech. I thought that if it was for official duties, the Democratic Party wouldn’t feel betrayed, and the LDP would accept it as unavoidable. However, LDP-affiliated city council members criticized me, saying, ‘The sitting prime minister came to the city, and you deliberately avoided showing your face.’ Some even said, ‘We’ll put up a conservative challenger in the next mayoral election.’ As a parachute candidate from Hiroshima, I was flustered, but fortunately, no conservative challenger ended up running.”

Utterly humiliated

It isn’t only the mayor himself who goes through twists and turns—sometimes his family suffers as well.

“My wife truly endured a lot. At the campaign kickoff for one of my elections, I made the mistake of getting the order of greetings wrong, placing a veteran councilor after a first-term member. Almost immediately, I got an angry phone call from the veteran: ‘My supporters are furious, saying it’s outrageous that I was put after some rookie. I’ve been utterly humiliated—what are you going to do about it?’

It was my wife who went to apologize. The councilor was furious, and my wife ended up kneeling on the floor with her head pressed against it to settle the matter. I only heard about this dogeza incident after the election was over. To me, my wife is even scarier than that veteran councilor. As compensation for the dogeza, she demanded a designer handbag—and of course, I gave in.”

Shimizu also has a daughter. When she was in elementary school, her birthday came around, and about five or six of her close friends were invited to their home for a party.

“Before long, strange rumors began to spread. People said the mayor was forming a clique by inviting only the children who were close to his daughter. I had no such intention, but I couldn’t risk being misunderstood. From then on, I stopped hosting birthday parties or allowing her to attend friends’ gatherings. I’m sure my daughter was deeply disappointed.

After finishing elementary school, she would have stood out even more as ‘the mayor’s daughter’ if she advanced to a local middle school in Kamagaya. After discussing it with my wife, we decided she should sit for entrance exams and attend a private girls’ school outside the city, offering combined junior and senior high education. My daughter agreed, but most of her friends went on to the same public middle school in Kamagaya. As a parent, my heart ached.”

Not only the person himself, but sometimes even his family is thrown about by the special role of being a mayor. From Shimizu’s account, one can see the raw, unvarnished backstage reality of city politics—far from the pretty picture.

Former Kamagaya Mayor—From parachute candidate to 19 years across five terms.
Seiji Shimizu’s bestselling latest volume, Mayor Flustered Diary, is now on sale!