Shoko Kawata, 36, and the mayor of Japan’s Yawata Kyoto Prefecture made history earlier this year – also sparking an insurmountable wave of debates and criticism, when she announced that she would be taking maternity leave. This was historic as she is the first sitting mayor in Japan to do so – and she stood her ground on her decision quite admirably. The furore and constant back and forth over her decision however, is what harnessed the attention of the international media, so much so that earlier this week, Kawata – who at one point was Japan’s youngest-ever female mayor when she got elected in 2023 – made it to the list of 100 of the World’s Most Influential Rising Stars published by TIME – and with good reason.
