Yokohama Mayor Takeharu Yamanaka is under fire over allegations of power harassment, including repeatedly using abusive language toward city officials.

In a rare move, Atsushi Kubota, the director of the human resources department at the Yokohama city government, made the accusation during a news conference on Thursday.

¡°From partway through his first term, there were a number of instances that could be described as so-called power harassment,¡± said Kubota. Power harassment refers to incidents in which a superior abuses his or her power to inflict harm on an underling.

¡°Among these were also behaviors that may have violated the Labor Standards Act, as well as problematic remarks and actions that disregarded the dignity of city council members and the deputy mayor as individuals, and showed a lack of respect for the human rights of us as city employees and workers,¡± he added.

Kubota had hoped that the situation would improve when Yamanaka was elected into office for a second term last August. But the mayor¡¯s problematic behavior has worsened to a point that it cannot be ignored, he said.

Yamanaka has denied the allegations.

According to Kubota, Yamanaka yelled, slammed the table and threw documents at him three years ago when he was working in the international affairs department. He also made comments such as, ¡°you need to die by seppuku if you can¡¯t¡± bring a certain event to Yokohama, referring to the ritual of suicide by disembowelment that was historically practiced by samurai.

Kubota also said that the mayor would frequently make vicious remarks against city officials and assembly members behind their backs, calling them names such as ¡°idiot,¡± ¡°fat,¡± and ¡°scum.¡± He would also liken another official to an animal and said that certain people were disgusting and that they should die.

The case first came to light when weekly magazine Shukan Bunshun¡¯s online platform Bunshun Online published a story last Sunday that featured remarks by Kubota.

Regarding the story, Yamanaka issued a statement on his website Sunday saying that he ¡°finds it deeply regrettable that remarks I do not recognize as factual nor was I aware of, were one-sidedly released to the public.¡±

In response, Kubota said on Thursday that he wanted the mayor to honestly admit the things that he has done.

¡°I would like a sincere apology to be made to those concerned, including myself, and for him to offer a thorough explanation to the public, the city assembly and municipal staff,¡± he said. ¡°A thorough investigation should be conducted by an independent third party and its findings made public.¡±