It's not the Brooklyn Bridge or the East River, but for one transplanted New Yorker, it seems to work just fine. Anthony Bianchi likens his adopted home in the city of Inuyama, Japan to a great ethnic neighborhood in Brooklyn. Anthony is so fond of Inuyama, he ran for public office two years ago and holds the distinction of being the first North American to get elected in this city of 72,000, or Japan itself for that matter. He's not the king of the castle, but it's a pretty big accomplishment -- being one of this city's 25 council members, and the only one who speaks Japanese with a Brooklyn accent. A local celebrity, Anthony is a favorite with the mayor, who respects him for his outspoken ways...more...

“Anthony Bianchi has proven once again if you’re from Brooklyn absolutely anything is possible! We’re well on our way to making Japan the Brooklyn of the Far East as our world domination continues. Pretty soon Brooklyn will be able to establish its own United Nations,” Borough President Markowitz said.

A former local city assemblyman of New York origin and seven others officially filed their candidacy Sunday to run in a mayoral election in Inuyama in Aichi Prefecture slated for Dec 17. In the race, voters will choose a successor to Yoshihiro Ishida, 61, who quit as city mayor after serving for more than 11 years to run in the prefecture's gubernatorial election scheduled for next February. If elected, Anthony Bianchi, a 48-year-old former Inuyama city assembly member originally from Brooklyn, New York, will be the first person born in the West to become a Japanese municipality head, according to the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry. Bianchi has pledged to further promote education reforms and to ensure greater participation of citizens in municipal politics...
...Speaking to supporters at his election office on Sunday morning, Bianchi said in Japanese, "This election is a turning point for Inuyama to move forward or step back. I want the city's future to be in the hands of people, not of a few specific people" belonging to certain groups. Bianchi has said that he is running as a completely independent candidate to provide "a legitimate alternative" to voters to meet the "real needs of people." As a foreign-born candidate, Bianchi said, "I don't have the same kind of 'shigarami' (obligation or indebtedness). Maybe other people have it." He also said his other strength is that people tolerate his behavior which is "a little bit more direct" than that of native-born Japanese. But on the fact that he may become the first Westerner to govern a Japanese municipality, Bianchi said, "I don't think that is such an important thing...It's just a footnote." Bianchi said that if he becomes Inuyama mayor, he would be able to better promote the city abroad and increase the number of visitors to boost the tourism industry in Inuyama.

Anthony Bianchi, originally from Brooklyn, New York, was reelected Sunday as an assembly member in Inuyama, Aichi Prefecture. Bianchi, 48, had resigned as an assembly member to run in the city's mayoral election in December. After losing the mayoral bid, he ran again for an assembly seat in the city, which has a population of around 75,000. Bianchi first came to Japan in the late 1980s and became a naturalized Japanese citizen in 2002. After working as an English teacher in Inuyama, he won a seat in the city assembly in April 2003 with the largest number of votes ever cast for a candidate in the election of 3,302.