HYOGO (TR) – Hideaki Takeuchi, a former prefectural assembly member who last year investigated documents accusing governor Motohiko Saito of power harassment, has passed away, reports the Asahi Shimbun (Jan. 19).
It is believed to have been a suicide, according to a source with knowledge of the matter.
According to the source, the family of Takeuchi, 50, found him collapsed at his home in Himeji City on Saturday night. He was confirmed dead at the hospital where he was taken.
Takeuchi was a member of the Prefectural Assembly Investigative Special Committee that was investigating the contents of accusatory documents outlining power harassment and corruption by Motohiko Saito, who won the prefectural gubernatorial election held on November 17.

Takeuchi resigned from the prefectural assembly in November for “personal reasons.”
According to a person connected to the assembly, he had been consulting with those around him about the slander he had received on social networking sites at the time of the election. Others in the committee were also targeted.
Takeuchi was first elected to the Himeji City Assembly in 2003. He became a prefectural assembly member in the unified local elections in June 2019. He resigned midway through his fifth term.