IT IS hard to exaggerate the gall of Yuriko Koike, the governor of Tokyo. She is a member of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), which dominates Japanese politics, and briefly served as minister of defence a decade ago. Yet last year she won her current job by running as an independent, against the LDP candidate. Last month she thumped the LDP again after backing a rival candidate for mayor of one of Tokyo’s 23 wards. She is now preparing to challenge the LDP’s control of the city assembly in elections to be held in July. Far from punishing this open rebellion, many in the party seem to be relishing it.
Ms Koike’s battering-ram in her war against the LDP is Kibo no Juku (School of Hope), a private academy for her political acolytes. The school has whittled down thousands of applicants to a few dozen graduates who will stand against LDP candidates in July. The charismatic governor’s new party, Tomin First no Kai (Tokyoites First Group) could end up the biggest in the assembly: a recent poll found that 84% of Tokyoites support her.
This run has been fuelled by...Continue reading
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