was a Japanese politician who served as the Mayor of Hiroshima from 1955 to 1959.
Watanabe was elected to the House of Representatives in April 1946, but soon after lost his seat due to the purge of Japanese officials by the US occupation authorities. He was able to return to political activity only following the end of the Allied occupation in 1952.
Mayor of Hiroshima In April 1955 ran against Shinzo Hamai, and won the election after making allegations of financial misconduct by his opponent.Shinzo Hamai, A-Bomb Mayor (Hiroshima, 2010) pp. 196-199 As Mayor of Hiroshima, Watanabe was in favor of the exact reconstruction of the Hiroshima Castle, which was completed in 1958.Oleg Benesch and Ran Zwigenberg, Japan’s Castles: Citadels of Modernity in War and Peace (Cambridge, 2019), p. 241
In 1956, he inaugurated the statue of the goddess Kannon in the Peace Park in memory of those killed and in anticipation of peace. . As mayor of Hiroshima, Watanabe supported the notion of establishing nuclear power plants in his city.Ran Zwigenberg, '“The Coming of a Second Sun”: The 1956 Atoms for Peace Exhibit in Hiroshima and Japan’s Embrace of Nuclear Power,' The Asia-Pacific Journal, Vol. 10, Issue 6 No. 1, February 6, 2012
Watanabe was survived by his son Naoyuki Watanabe, who worked to cultivate his father's legacy. Yoko Nitta, "Documentary film depicting the reconstruction of Hiroshima is newly found"
Post mayoral activities and death Watanabe tried to get reelected as mayor of Hiroshima in 1959, 1963 and 1967, but failed. After losing the election in 1959, Watanabe returned to his work as a lawyer.
He died of uremia at Hiroshima Municipal Hospital at 2:35 p.m. (Japan time) on 6 May 1980.
External links Interview by Watanabe to the Los Angeles Times Article in Time mentioning Watanabe Norioki Ishimaru, Reconstruction planning after the Second World War in Hiroshima
References