Chapter 58: The Unchained Vicious Dog

Urawa City Municipal Government Building.

“What the hell is this!”

Urawa’s mayor, Kiuchi Shigezawa, looked at the flyer in front of him, his face dark.

“Th-this is… a promotional material being distributed by the Yamagami-gumi…”

Yoshida Shoichi answered, stammering slightly.

“Of course I know it’s a promotional material being distributed by the Yamagami-gumi!
What I’m asking is why does this thing exist?!” Kiuchi Shigezawa sputtered in anger.

‘Why else?’

‘It’s obviously because you tried to knock the Yamagami-gumi down a peg, and now they’re retaliating!’

Yoshida Shoichi grumbled internally.

“We must deny the contents of this flyer as soon as possible!” another person in the office said nervously.

This person was named Kobashi Tadazo.
His official title was the mayor’s secretary, but his actual job was as Kiuchi Shigezawa’s aide.

Hearing Kobashi Tadazo speak, Yoshida Shoichi felt a wave of annoyance.
He had originally been against Kiuchi Shigezawa’s move to discipline the independently acting Yamagami-gumi.
Yoshida Shoichi had had a lot of contact with the Yamagami-gumi and knew that Yamagami Nobuo was no pushover, so he had always treated them as a partner.
But Kobashi Tadazo had insisted on persuading Kiuchi Shigezawa to teach the Yamagami-gumi a lesson, lest these yakuza completely disregard the orders from above.

Kobashi Tadazo had been with Kiuchi Shigezawa longer.
After some hesitation, Kiuchi Shigezawa had chosen to follow Kobashi Tadazo’s advice.

And here was the result.

“How am I supposed to deny these things!
You tell me, how do I deny them!”

At this moment, Kiuchi Shigezawa couldn’t maintain a good temper with Kobashi Tadazo either.

Want a free health check-up?

Vote for Mayor Kiuchi!

Want to live in a new house?

Vote for Mayor Kiuchi!

Want a better environment?

Vote for Mayor Kiuchi…

Each of the three points vigorously promoted by the Yamagami-gumi made Kiuchi Shigezawa’s scalp tingle.

First, the issue of annual free health check-ups for the elderly.
This was clearly a burden that the central government had thrown to the local governments to cut its own medical expenses, a burden the local governments were reluctant to take on.

Kiuchi Shigezawa didn’t dare say to the public, “We don’t have free health check-ups!”
That would be tantamount to giving up on votes.
But he also didn’t dare say, “We will have free health check-ups!”
It was one thing that he couldn’t do it himself, but saying it out loud and offending a large number of his colleagues and superiors was another matter entirely.

Because the “local” in the Diet’s bill referred not to “cities” but to “prefectures,” and Saitama Prefecture had over sixty cities, towns, and villages!
The current mainstream political view in the Saitama prefectural government was that free check-ups were fine, but the cost needed to be shared between the central and local governments, not borne solely by the local governments.
Thus, the call for annual free health check-ups for the elderly had been shouted for two years but was still at a stalemate, unable to be truly implemented.

Even though Urawa was one of the wealthiest and most populous cities in Saitama, Kiuchi Shigezawa didn’t dare to be the one to betray the collective and stick his neck out.

Second, the housing issue.

This was an old problem in Urawa.
High housing prices and a tight housing supply had long been a source of complaint among Urawa’s local citizens.
Kiuchi Shigezawa had played this card during his last election campaign, but with most of his term now passed, he dared not bring it up again—because he now fully understood that the root of Urawa’s housing problem was not in Urawa, but in Tokyo.

Urawa is Tokyo’s company dormitory—only after becoming mayor did Kiuchi Shigezawa truly understand this phrase.

A large number of “workers” commute to Tokyo for work during the day and return to Urawa to sleep at night, or even buy houses and settle down in Urawa directly.
Not only were they numerous, but their incomes were also generally higher than the locals’, so they occupied a large amount of housing and drove the cost of living in Urawa higher and higher.

It could be said that as long as Tokyo was there, Urawa’s housing problem would always be a problem—at least, Kiuchi Shigezawa saw no hope of solving it.

In the two years since Kiuchi Shigezawa took office, housing prices in Urawa had continued to rise, and the housing shortage was still a problem.
The public was already quite dissatisfied with him, which was why he was so eager to redevelop the Katakura Danchi—regardless of whether it could solve the problem, at least it would create some commotion and show the public he was doing something.

The last issue, the environment, seemed to be the least sensitive of the three, something that could be easily promised to the public.
But it was precisely the issue that Kiuchi Shigezawa could least afford to mention at the moment.

Since the 1980s, Saitama Prefecture had taken on industrial transfers from Tokyo.
A large number of chemical, steel, and automobile manufacturing companies had landed in Saitama, and the economy had improved.
This was the political achievement that the current Saitama Prefectural Governor, Ito Eishiro, loved to talk about.
However, along with the industry came severe water pollution, air pollution, and an excessive amount of difficult-to-treat waste.

For example, last year in Kasukabe City, an illegal landfill had contaminated the groundwater, forcing the surrounding residents to relocate collectively.

Ito Eishiro was currently Mayor Kiuchi’s most important backer and ally.
Therefore, Kiuchi Shigezawa could naturally only praise his economic achievements and avoid the word “pollution” altogether.

Every single point was what the citizens of Urawa hoped for.

And every single point was what Kiuchi Shigezawa dared not promise…

Beads of sweat began to form on Kobashi Tadazo’s forehead.
“But we can’t let them continue this campaign.
The more they promote it, the higher the public’s expectations will be.
Before long, we’ll have to respond.
If you deny them one by one at that point…”

If Kiuchi Shigezawa denied them one by one, he could clearly forget about anyone voting for him next year.

“There’s another problem,” Yoshida Shoichi added.
“Because the Yamagami-gumi is promoting it so aggressively, it’s already caused some public resentment.
People are saying they’re as annoying as a plague of locusts.
This resentment will quickly spread to you as well.”

“This kind of excessive promotion tactic doesn’t seem like something a yakuza would come up with…” Kobashi Tadazo muttered.
“Shouldn’t yakuza only know how to shout and kill?”

“I told you long ago, your view of the yakuza is too one-sided.
There are old foxes among them too,” Yoshida Shoichi said.

“Alright, stop arguing.
The key now is how to get the Yamagami-gumi to stop this excessive promotion immediately!”

Kiuchi Shigezawa said anxiously.
The Yamagami-gumi’s ability to mobilize locally was strong.
He was worried that if he delayed for a few more hours, even the elementary school students in Urawa would be shouting “Mayor Kiuchi is the sun!”

“What else can we do?” Yoshida Shoichi spread his hands.
“We can’t just call the police and arrest them for saying good things about you.
The only way is to make peace with the Yamagami-gumi.”

Kiuchi Shigezawa’s mouth opened.
He glanced at Kobashi Tadazo, who also shamefully avoided his gaze.

Kiuchi Shigezawa could only nod helplessly.
“Alright, Yoshida, I’ll leave this matter to you…”

Clearly, from the bottom of his heart, Kiuchi Shigezawa did not want to easily back down to the Yamagami-gumi.
In his view, the yakuza were just vicious dogs raised by politicians.
However, the bite the Yamagami-gumi had delivered this time was simply too venomous.
For the sake of his own votes, Kiuchi Shigezawa had no choice but to compromise.