Tokyo Governor to Resume Full Salary, Having Earned Over NT$20 Million Less Over 10 Years

(CNA Tokyo, June 20th, Comprehensive Foreign News) Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike has been receiving only half her salary since taking office in 2016, fulfilling a campaign promise. This self-imposed salary cut is set to end at the end of July. She will then transition from being the lowest-paid local government head in Japan to the highest-paid.

The Asahi Shimbun reported today that when Koike ran for Tokyo Governor in 2016, she advocated for "reform from within" and promised to take only half her salary if elected. After taking office as Tokyo Governor in August 2016, she proposed a bill to the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly to receive only half her salary, which was passed. This regulation was initially for one year, but a bill to extend the measure has been proposed annually.

A simple estimate by Japanese media suggests that this practice has reduced her earnings by over 100 million yen (approximately NT$20.2 million) over 10 years.

The salary reduction ordinance passed in June of last year will expire at the end of July this year. The Tokyo Metropolitan Government will not propose an amendment to extend the ordinance.

Koike explained to the Asahi Shimbun, "The factions in the Metropolitan Assembly requested, 'It's inappropriate that you are so active yet receive the lowest salary in the country.'" The Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly passed the ordinance to halve the Tokyo Governor's salary in 2016.

According to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, before Koike halved her salary, her monthly salary was 1,517,000 yen (approximately NT$303,000). Including other allowances, her annual salary would have reached about 31,330,000 yen (approximately NT$6,272,000).

Furthermore, according to a survey by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications in April 2025, the Tokyo Governor's monthly salary is the lowest among the 47 prefectures in Japan. However, once the half-salary measure ends, Koike will become the highest-paid local government head in Japan.

Koike told the Asahi Shimbun, "As a symbol of reforming the metropolitan government, the assembly has for some time acknowledged the special measure of halving the salary." She also stated that even if the half-salary measure ends, "I will not change my stance on reforming the metropolitan government."

Starting in 2017, the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly followed Koike's example by cutting assembly members' salaries by 20%, reasoning that otherwise, their annual salaries would exceed Koike's. The measure for assembly members to cut their own salaries ended in July of last year, and they have resumed receiving their full salaries. (Compiled by Yang Wei-ching) 0620