Photo/Illutration Tokushima Mayor Sawako Naito speaks to reporters on April 16 in Tokushima. (Takashi Azuma)

TOKUSHIMA—To much fanfare, Sawako Naito became Japan’s youngest female mayor in April 2020, winning the post in this prefectural capital on the main island of Shikoku.

Four years later, she has had enough of Tokushima politics.

Naito, 40, said she will not seek re-election after her term ends on April 17.

In an interview with media outlets on April 16, the mayor said her four-year tenure was filled with “unfounded rumors” and “confrontations,” and that many of the problems were related to her gender and age.

“For example, people said I was pregnant when I gained a little weight, or that I was someone’s mistress, or that I was having an affair. There were so many untrue rumors about me,” she said in the interview.

She said these “unjustified voices” have caused her much suffering.

Naito was 36 years old when she took office. She said that when she became mayor, a young woman she knew told her, “I want to be a politician, too.”

But after seeing what the mayor went through, the young woman changed her mind, Naito said.

At a March 13 news conference when she announced she would not seek a second term, Naito said: “There were slanderous remarks that had nothing to do with policy. There were also comments that I believed were said just because I was a young woman.”

Asked what led to her hardships as mayor, Naito said on April 16, “It may be a combination of factors, whether it is because I am a woman, because I am young, or because this is Tokushima city.”

She said that to maintain her morale, she has tried to communicate with female politicians, female business executives and female researchers—those who work in industries where women are in the minority.

“By sharing our stories, we could empower each other,” Naito said. “The experiences we shared will be passed on to the generations to come.”

She said she hopes to continue working for women’s empowerment and community building.

The four years of Naito’s term have been marked by “confrontation” and “division” between forces who support the mayor and those who do not.

In February, Naito remarked during a talk show with Shinji Ishimaru, mayor of Akitakata city in Hiroshima Prefecture, “To be honest, I don’t care about messy political battles and all that.”

During the April 16 interview, she was asked about that remark.

She said, “Since the last time I ran for office, I have been thinking that I am being sucked into a kind of (confrontational structure), and I was unwilling to be included in it.”

Naito added: “I know that many things have happened in the history of politics in Tokushima up to now, but I really did not want to get involved. There were things that I wanted to do on my own, not from the standpoint of confrontation.”

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