Harue Kitamura ( 11 July 1928 – 13 March 2022) was a Japanese politician, lawyer, and feminist. She is the first woman to be elected mayor of a Japanese city, serving three terms as the mayor of Ashiya, Hyogo.

Early life

Kitamura was born in

Kyoto Kyoto (; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin, Keihanshin metropolitan area along wi ...

in 1928. Raised in

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of ...

, in 1952 she graduated from

Ritsumeikan University is a private university in Kyoto, Japan, that traces its origin to 1869. With the Kinugasa Campus (KIC) in Kyoto, and Kyoto Prefecture, the university also has a satellite called Biwako-Kusatsu Campus (BKC) and Osaka-Ibaraki Campus (OIC). Tod ...

's law department. After experiencing gender discrimination in the workplace, Kitamura decided to become a lawyer to improve conditions and reduce inequality. She became the first Ritsumeikan alumna to pass the

bar exam A bar examination is an examination administered by the bar association of a jurisdiction that a lawyer must pass in order to be admitted to the bar of that jurisdiction. Australia Administering bar exams is the responsibility of the bar associat ...

in 1956.

Career

In 1959, Kitamura started working at the Osaka Family Court, then from 1979 until 1991, at the Ashiya Education Commission to chair terms. Kitamura ran for mayor of Ashiya in 1991 as an independent, and became the first female mayor of a Japanese city. Her main supporters were mothers who supported her plans for public school reform. In 1992 Kitamura was presented with a

Medal of Honor The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest military decoration and is awarded to recognize American soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, guardians and coast guardsmen who have distinguished themselves by acts of valo ...

. The

Great Hanshin Earthquake The , or Kobe earthquake, occurred on January 17, 1995, at 05:46:53 JST (January 16 at 20:46:53 UTC) in the southern part of Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, including the region known as Hanshin. It measured 6.9 on the moment magnitude scale and ha ...

occurred during her time in office, and 400 of Ashiya's citizens were killed. With transportation and official communications lines down, Kitamura had to call the mayors of Osaka,

Beppu is a city in Ōita Prefecture on the island of Kyushu, Japan. As of March 31, 2017, the city had a population of 122,643

, and Izumo personally to ask for aid. Refugees stayed in city hall for weeks until housing was built. In 2003 Kitamura retired from political life, and chose not to run for re-election. She was publicly recognized by the governor of Hyogo prefecture, Toshizō Ido, for her work. Kitamura was awarded the Order of the Rising Sun, in 2004.

Personal life and death

Kitamura died from

aspiration pneumonia Aspiration pneumonia is a type of lung infection that is due to a relatively large amount of material from the stomach or mouth entering the lungs. Signs and symptoms often include fever and cough of relatively rapid onset. Complications may inc ...

in Nishinomiya on 13 March 2022, at the age of 93.

Publications

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kitamura, Harue 1928 births 2022 deaths People from Kyoto Ritsumeikan University alumni Women mayors of places in Japan Japanese women lawyers Japanese feminists Recipients of the Order of the Rising Sun Recipients of the Medal with Blue Ribbon Deaths from pneumonia in Japan 20th-century Japanese lawyers