Kenji Kitahashi

is a Japanese politician and a former mayor of Kitakyushu, Japan. A graduate of the University of Tokyo, he was elected to the House of Representatives in Diet of Japan (parliament) for the first time in 1986 as a member of Democratic Socialist Party, which later became part of Democratic Party of Japan. After losing his seat in 1990, he was re-elected in 1993. In February 2007 he was elected mayor of Kitakyushu and went on to serve four terms, until 2023.