was mayor of

Hiroshima is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture in Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 1,199,391. The gross domestic product (GDP) in Greater Hiroshima, Hiroshima Urban Employment Area, was US$61.3 billion as of 2010. Kazumi Matsui has b ...

from October 22, 1945 to March 22, 1947 and was elected as member of the Hiroshima Prefectural Assembly in 1911. Kihara was born in Yano Village, Aki District, Hiroshima Prefecture (present Aki Ward, Hiroshima City). He graduated from Waseda University's Department of Politics and Economics in 1906. After serving as a member of the Hiroshima Prefectural Assembly, he ran for and was elected in the 17th general election for the House of Representatives in 1930 and served a total of three terms. Following the atomic attack on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, a period of political vacuum was created, as the city lay in ruins its mayor

Senkichi Awaya was a Japanese public official who was killed by the Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima while he was its mayor. He was one of the key figures in the historic clash between the Japanese police and the Imp ...

was killed. Out of the 40 members of the city council, 8 were killed in the bombing and most living members were unable to attend sessions due to their injuries. In September 1945, the Hiroshima City Council held an emergency session where it decided to appoint Kihara as the new mayor, and following approval by the Ministry of Interior, he was inaugurated as mayor on October 22, 1945. As part of his policy of reconstruction, he established in January 1946 a separate department within Hiroshima municipality to make decisions on reconstruction without the need of city council approval and was officially titled ''Restoration Bureau'', consisting of 30 members and headed by former mayor

Wakami Fujita was mayor of Hiroshima from 1939 to 1943. He survived the atomic attack on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, and continued working for the Hiroshima municipality until 1947, when the US authorities purged him from his duties. In January 1946, he w ...

.''A-Bomb Mayor'', pp. 58-59 He remained mayor of Hiroshima until he was dismissed by the US occupation authorities as part of the purge of Japanese officials who took part in supporting the Japanese military during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Following his dismissal from office, he supported the policies of

Shinzo Hamai was the first popularly elected Mayor of Hiroshima (served 1947-1955 and again 1959-1967). He created Hiroshima's image as a city of peace. He was the second mayor of Hiroshima to serve several non-consecutive terms, the first being Sukeyuki Ban ...

and kept working for him unofficially till his death.

Notes

References

, ''A-Bomb Mayor: Warnings and Hope from Hiroshima'' (Hiroshima, 2010) *

Robert Jungk Robert Jungk (; born ''Robert Baum'', also known as ''Robert Baum-Jungk''; 11 May 1913 – 14 July 1994) was an Austrian writer, journalist, historian and peace campaigner. He wrote mostly on matters relating to nuclear weapons. Life Jungk was ...

, ''Children of the Ashes'' (1st English ed. 1961) {{DEFAULTSORT:Kihara, Shichiro 20th-century mayors of places in Japan Mayors of Hiroshima Members of the House of Representatives (Japan) 1884 births 1951 deaths Politicians from Hiroshima Prefecture People from Aki, Hiroshima