Working as an English teacher in this city famous for its 16th century castle, Anthony Bianchi found his reform efforts hampered by "traditions" and "precedents."
The 44-year-old New York native, who has carried out reforms such as recruiting professional language teachers to Inuyama since 1996, quit his post as director of the city's native English teacher program. He is going to run for a seat on the city assembly April 27.
"I was constantly fighting with the official government, board of education and other places in the city government. They say 'There's an ordinance' or 'There are no precedents,' " as excuses, Bianchi said.
"If the ordinance doesn't suit what we need to do, let's change it. If there's no precedent, let's make one. Let's just use our common sense. It's a very simple idea, but no one does it. So I want to do it," he said. His campaign slogan is "Common sense and progress rather than ordinances and precedents."