Around this time, he was classmates with Tooru Terada and Takeshi Kawai (when the latter ran as a Liberal Democratic Party candidate in the Yokohama mayoral race against Asukata in 1971, it was dubbed a "classroom confrontation").

[3][4] This movement involved left-of-centre opposition parties building their strength in local assemblies, with a focus on improving quality of life.

This inspired imitators in several other cities, including Tokyo governor Ryokichi Minobe, and soon enough these progressive local governments began to spread throughout the rest of the country.

"[5] His tenure as mayor was marked by efforts to realise local direct democracy, which was criticised by more conservative members of the city council as "disregard for parliamentarianism."

At the height of the Vietnam War, he continued to make anti-war and anti-military base statements, lending support to the so-called 1972 "tank struggles" in Japan.

As a result, he decided to run from Tokyo 1st district instead, However, there were still issues as now that he was in an area where he lacked a power base at his disposal, he was unable to really assist other JSP candidates.

He also tried to increase the appeal of the JSP by expanding party membership and setting up closer coordination with citizen interests groups.

[8] However, his tenure as mayor of Yokohama has left more lasting marks, such as the Minato Mirai 21 urban renewal master plan.