'Sorry for the trouble': Mayor of a Japanese town resigns after probe identifies 99 acts of sexual harassment
Hideo Kojima
Hideo Kojima, the mayor of the Japanese town of Ginan inGifu Prefecture on Thursday (Feb 29) submitted his resignation after a third-party committee found him guilty of sexually harassing a number of his female employees.
The committee, as per a Japan Times report, identified 99 acts, including patting the heads and buttocks of female staff members.
'Inappropriate' behaviour
The third-party committee on Tuesday (Feb 27) published its report on the various sexual harassment complaints against Kojima.
It identified 99 acts of harassment, including touching their heads or buttocks, forcing them to lift their skirts and exposing his chest and legs to them. The report also makes mention of sexual comments and behaviour it deems "inappropriate" for a town mayor.
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Some of these acts, as per the report, fall within the legal definition of indecent assault.
The report was based on the survey of 161 of the 193 employees working under Kojima—80 men and 81 women.
58 per cent of women and 53.7 per cent of men said that the mayor made them feel uncomfortable. 85 per cent of men and 81.4 per cent of women said they had seen him sexually harassing and/or verbally abusing members of the staff.
These findings, as per the report, point to no other alternative but Kojima's immediate resignation.
Mayor alleges 'bias'
Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, 74-year-old Kojima, who was elected inNovember 2020 and was serving his first term,refuted the committee's report and called it "biased".
"I think the report of this investigation committee lacks neutrality. It is biased. I think it would have been better if there had been more careful explanations in the investigation."
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"It is written in a one-sided way. I think the investigation report was done with sexual harassment in mind from the beginning. It doesn’t feel right," added Kojima.
While he acknowledged that patting the heads of female staff was indeed an act of sexual harassment, he denied some claims in the report, such as hugging female employees.
Teary-eyed, he apologised and said: "I am sorry for the trouble I have caused. I will resign."
"After receiving phone calls from townspeople and seeing news reports, I decided it was time to move on," he added.
The resignation is yet to be finalised and needs the consent of the town assembly, which will meet on Friday (March 1). If finalised, the mayoral election is expected to be held by the end of April.
(With inputs from agencies)
