City’s Mayor Urged to Resign over Academic Record Scandal

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This photo released by Suphan Buri Provincial Public Relations Office, shows the damage by an explosion at a fireworks factory in Suphan Buri province, Thailand, Wednesday, July 30, 2025. (Provincial Public Relations Office Suphan Buri via AP)

The city assembly of Ito, Shizuoka Prefecture, central Japan, on Monday unanimously adopted a nonbinding resolution urging Mayor Maki Takubo to resign over allegations that she lied about her academic record.

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   The assembly also unanimously decided to set up a special committee under the local autonomy law to investigate the scandal.    “I take the decision seriously,” Takubo told reporters after a plenary meeting of the assembly, adding that she will hold a press conference later on Monday.

   Takubo had claimed to have graduated from Toyo University, but on Wednesday, she admitted that she was actually expelled from the university.

   “We want (Takubo) to decide what to do based on the resolution,” the assembly’s speaker, Hiromichi Nakajima, told reporters separately.