[1] Matsui entered politics in April 2003 when he was elected to the Osaka Prefectural Assembly, serving three consecutive terms.

[5] In June 2012, Kyozo Isohi, a homeless and unemployed man recently released from jail, stabbed two passersby to death in Shinsaibashi with a kitchen knife.

[6] Matsui made a controversial remark during a press conference, stating the attacker should have just killed himself instead of harming others.

[7][8] Matsui was re-elected to a second term in the Osaka "double election" of November 2015, scoring an overwhelming victory over his challengers.

In addition, it is the first time since Kunio Hiramatsu that a person who has worked in a private company has been appointed Mayor of Osaka.