Photo/Illutration Nagoya Mayor Takashi Kawamura on Oct. 1 announces his intention to run in the Lower House election. (Shun Noguchi)

NAGOYA—Nagoya Mayor Takashi Kawamura said Oct. 1 he will run in the Lower House election as a candidate of the Conservative Party of Japan, a year-old organization founded mainly by novelist Naoki Hyakuta.

Kawamura, 75, has served as co-president of the organization since October 2023, a month after it was established.

The group has not met the requirements, such as having five Diet members, to be recognized as an official political party. It has spread its policies and gained attention largely through social media.

Kawamura said he will run from the Aichi No. 1 district in the Lower House election, which is expected on Oct. 27.

He was first elected to the Lower House in 1993 as a candidate of the now-defunct Japan New Party. He served five consecutive terms, changing his party affiliation to the New Frontier Party, the Liberal Party and the Democratic Party of Japan.

In 2009, Kawamura was first elected mayor of Nagoya and is now in his fourth term.

He had long used the catchphrase, “The man who aims to become prime minister.”

After becoming mayor, he often expressed his desire to return to national politics.

On the morning of Oct. 1, Kawamura revealed a new catchphrase to reporters in front of his office in Nagoya’s Higashi Ward: “The man who again wants to be prime minister.”

When asked what policies he would like to realize on the national level, he mentioned “volunteerization” of local legislators and constitutional reform.

Regarding the Constitution, he pointed to Paragraph 2 of Article 9, which does not recognize Japan’s right of belligerency, as a problem.

“It is outrageous that peace can be maintained in a country that is incapable of war,” he said.

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