A mayor in Japan announced her maternity leave - and got the whole country talking

Shinji Ishimaru, the former mayor of Akitakata city in the Hiroshima prefecture, believes the real issue is figuring out how to make sure duties are carried out during maternity leave.People agree maternity leave is good, he suggests on his YouTube channel, but he wants this case to spark a constructive discussion on finding a solution that doesn't disrupt municipal work.Cheng Feng ChiangYawata, near Kyoto, is known for one of Japan's top shrines and an impressive 1.4-kilometre (0.9 mile) stretch of cherry treesKawata became Japan's youngest-ever female city mayor aged 33. She graduated from Kyoto-university" class="entity-link entity-organization" data-entity-id="10311" data-entity-type="organization">Kyoto University with a degree in economics before pursuing a career in local government and politics. She enjoys tea ceremonies, wearing kimonos and visiting shrines and temples, according to her official profile page.And she's risen through the ranks in a very male political scene. As of last year, only about 4% of Japan's 1,720 municipal leaders were women.While the country may now have its first female prime minister, the government has regularly come under fire for not doing enough to encourage more women into politics.Some say the male-dominated cabinet and ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), which has governed Japan for much of its post-war history, are part of the problem.A Cabinet Office survey released in July 2025 identified several barriers preventing women from entering politics: pregnancy, an assumption politics is a man's job and harassment.