Kanagawa 8th district

Kanagawa 8th district (Kanagawa 8-ku, 神奈川8区) or more formally the "8th district of Kanagawa Prefecture" (Kanagawa-ken dai-8-ku, 神奈川県第8区) is a single-member electoral district for the House of Representatives, the lower house of the National Diet of Japan. It is located in northwestern Yokohama the capital of Kanagawa prefecture. The district covers the wards of Midori and Aoba and after redistricting in 2017, parts of the neighborhoods of Eda and Oomaru in Tsuzuki ward. As of 2021, the district had 427,843 eligible voters.^[1]

Map of the House of Representatives constituencies in Yokohama

Before the 2002 redistricting, i.e. until the 2003 general House of Representatives election, the 8th district consisted of Aoba ward and the Miyamae ward of Kawasaki City, the second major city in Kanagawa. Midori had previously been part of the 7th district, Miyamae was transferred to the newly created 18th district.

After the introduction of single-member districts with the 1994 Japanese electoral reform, effective in the 1996 Representatives election, the district was initially won by pre-reform 1st district incumbent Hiroshi Nakada (New Frontier Party later independent), who resigned for his successful campaign in the 2002 mayoral election in Yokohama city and later returned to the House of Representatives, but this time from Hokuriku-Shin'etsu. The resulting special election in Kanagawa 8th district was won by independent Kenji Eda. Eda lost the district in the 2003 Representatives election to Democrat Tetsundo Iwakuni, but won it back in 2005 and has held onto the seat since.

List of representatives

Representative	Party		Dates	Notes
Hiroshi Nakada		NFP	1996–2000	Previously member from the four-member 1st district for Japan New Party→New Frontier Party, joined "Independents" (Mushozoku no kai) after the NFP dissolution
		Independent	2000–2002	Resigned to stand in a municipal election
Kenji Eda		Independent	2002–2003	Special election October 28, 2002
Tetsundo Iwakuni		DPJ	2003–2005
Kenji Eda		Independent	2005–2009	Formed YP in 2009
		Your Party	2009–2014	Led breakaway Unity Party in 2013, merged into Japan Innovation Party in 2014
		Innovation	2014–2017
		Independent	2017–2021
		CDP	2021–

Election results

2021^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	CDP	Kenji Eda	130,925	52.6	1.6
	LDP	Hidehiro Mitani (won seat in Southern Kantō PR block)	117,963	47.4	13.7
Turnout				59.37	5.78

2017^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Kenji Eda	119,280	54.2	0.3
	LDP	Hidehiro Mitani (won seat in Southern Kantō PR block)	74,119	33.7	0.5
	JCP	Rika Katō	21,241	9.6	1.7
	Fair Party	Tsuneki Ōnishi	5,518	2,5
Turnout				53.59	3.00

2014^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Ishin	Kenji Eda	116,189	54.5	0.4
	LDP	Mineyuki Fukuda (won seat in Southern Kantō PR block)	73,032	34.2	8.4
	JCP	Yasuhisa Wakabayashi	24,024	11.3	10.5
Turnout				56.59	6.41

2012^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	YP	Kenji Eda	127,294	54.1	5.0
	LDP (NK)	Mineyuki Fukuda (won seat in Minami-Kantō)	60,643	25.8	5.0
	DPJ (PNP)	Kumiko Itō	33,769	19.7	new
	JCP	Susumu Kugimaru	13,526	5.8	new

2009^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	YP	Kenji Eda	128,753	49.1	14.2
	DPJ	Makoto Yamazaki (won seat in Minami-Kantō)	74,544	28.4	new
	LDP (NK)	Mineyuki Fukuda	54,480	20.8	8.6
	HRP	Hiroyuki Kojima	4,246	1.6	new

2005^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	I	Kenji Eda	88,098	34.9	2.9
	DPJ	Tetsundo Iwakuni (won seat in Minami-Kantō)	78,860	31.2	7.5
	LDP	Mineyuki Fukuda (won seat in Minami-Kantō)	74,399	29.4	new
	JCP	Eiji Yamanaka	11,578	4.6	0.1

References

1. "選挙人名簿登録者数" [Number of registered voters]. Kanagawa Prefecture Election Commission (in Japanese). 2021.
2. "2021年衆議院総選挙 神奈川８区". NHK (in Japanese). Retrieved 16 January 2022.
3. 小選挙区 神奈川８区 (in Japanese). NHK. Retrieved 16 January 2022.
4. 2014年12月14日(日) 投票 小選挙区 神奈川８区 (in Japanese). NHK. Retrieved 16 January 2022.
5. 総選挙2012>開票結果 小選挙区 神奈川. Yomiuri Shimbun (in Japanese). Retrieved 2014-11-22.
6. 総選挙2009>開票結果 小選挙区 神奈川. Yomiuri Shimbun (in Japanese). Retrieved 2014-11-22.
7. 総選挙2005>開票結果 小選挙区 神奈川. Yomiuri Shimbun (in Japanese). Retrieved 2014-11-22.