On Tuesday, Time magazine released its “Time100 Next 2025” list, honoring people from around the world who are shaping the future and defining the next generation of leadership. Included among them was Ryosuke Takashima, who was elected to lead the city of Ashiya in Hyogo Prefecture two years ago at the age of 26 and 2 months, making him Japan’s youngest ever mayor.
A year earlier, Takashima graduated from Harvard University with a degree in environmental engineering. He also leads a non-profit organization called the Ryugaku Fellowship, which offers Japanese high school students information and advice about going to college overseas.
Ryosuke Takashima Is ‘Breaking the Mold’
Takashima was chosen in the magazine’s leadership section. “In Japan, a country shaped by its gerontocratic politics, Ryosuke Takashima is breaking the mold,” it said. “He became the nation’s youngest-ever mayor in 2023 at the age of 26, when he was elected to serve the over 90,000 residents of Ashiya.
“Since then,” the magazine continued, “Takashima has prioritized reforms that benefit younger generations, such as redesigning classroom instruction to give teachers more agency and students more personalized learning, shifting per-person cash benefits for seniors to investments in shared public services, and advancing cost-effective climate action.”
A Record-Breaking Election Triumph
After his election triumph in April 2023, Takashima said, “What matters is what I’ll achieve, not my age. But my youth means I have more energy to be more active than anyone else.” He broke the record of Kotaro Shishida, who was elected as the mayor of Musashimurayama in western Tokyo at the age of 27 in 1994.
While campaigning, Takashima vowed to provide more support for young families, free medical care for people 18 and younger and improved English education programs. He won with more than 46% of the vote, ahead of the incumbent and two other rivals.
Rina Gonoi honored at the White House
Time100 Next
The “Time100 Next” list was launched in 2019 “to recognize those still on the rise.” Other Japanese people who have featured in the past include Shinjiro Koizumi, one of the leading contenders in the upcoming LDP leadership election, and Rina Gonoi, a former member of the Self-Defense Forces (SDF), who spoke out about being sexually abused while serving her country.
The youngest person on the 2025 list is 16-year-old Elliston Berry. She was 14 when a classmate used AI to create an explicit deepfake image of her. Earlier this year, she was recognized at the State of the Union for her work advocating for new protections against digital harassment.
Related Posts
Discover Tokyo, Every Week
Get the city’s best stories, under-the-radar spots and exclusive invites delivered straight to your inbox.
AloJapan.com