Akira Ogawa, the mayor of Maebashi city in Gunma Prefecture, held an emergency press conference on Wednesday to deny reports that she was having an affair with a married employee. She did, however, admit to visiting hotels with the man on several occasions. Ogawa was responding to claims made in the weekly magazine website News Post Seven about her secret rendezvous with the city official at love hotels. According to the article, Ogawa, who isn’t married, left the office in a government car and drove to the hotels in a separate vehicle.
Maebashi Mayor Apologizes for Hotel Visits
“I would like to express my deepest apologies for the inconvenience caused. I am truly sorry,” she said at the press conference hosted at Maebashi City Hall. “It is true that I visited hotels with an employee on multiple occasions. Although there was no sexual relationship, I deeply regret that my actions were misleading.” She explained that her subordinate had asked her for advice on work-related matters and a hotel was somewhere they could talk without worrying about being seen.
When asked how many times they visited hotels, Ogawa replied, “I didn’t keep detailed records, but it was more than 10 times.” She added that she paid for the expenses out of her own pocket. Quizzed on whether she will stay on as mayor, Ogawa said she will consider what to do after consulting with a third party. On X, Masaki Kito, a lawyer who has been at the forefront of legal battles against the Unification Church, questioned why a secret place was needed for such meetings.
Akira Ogawa: Maebashi’s First Female Mayor
Ogawa, a lawyer-turned-politician, won the mayoral election in February 2024, becoming Maebashi’s first ever female mayor. She defeated incumbent Mayor Ryu Yamamoto, an independent backed by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition partner Komeito, by over 14,000 votes. Ogawa, who also ran as an independent, had the backing of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, the Japanese Communist Party, the Democratic Party for the People and the Social Democratic Party. After the victory, she said, “There were more citizens who thought ‘we must change the current politics’ than I expected.”
