Heita Kawakatsu, the four-term governor of Shizuoka — which sits roughly between Tokyo and Nagoya — is a NIMBY like no other. He has single-handedly been blocking the completion of one of the world’s most ambitious construction projects: A ¥9 trillion ($59.3 billion) magnetic-levitation train that will run at 500 kilometers an hour and eventually connect the Japanese capital and Osaka in just over 60 minutes.

Without his signoff, the project could not proceed. Central Japan Railway, the train operator that is building and financing the maglev, admitted recently that it had abandoned a planned 2027 launch date for the service. Various solutions offered to the governor had gone nowhere. There seemed little to do but wait for the 75-year-old Kawakatsu to get voted out or (one way or another) leave office.

Last week, fate — or a faux pas, at least — intervened. After a gaffe in which he called public servants "highly intelligent, unlike people who sell vegetables or take care of cows,” Kawakatsu is now set to resign in June amid anger from his constituents.