Tokyo governor comes out swinging as Abe caught flat-footed

Sep 26, 2017 | News On Japan

Sep 26, 2017 (Nikkei) - Popular Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike's decision to stake out ground opposite the ruling party ahead of next month's lower house election has come as an unpleasant surprise to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who hoped to find common ground with an ideological ally.

After Monday's announcement of her new national party -- Kibo no To, or "Party of Hope" -- Koike met with former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, who gave Koike her cabinet debut in 2003 as environment minister. The two discussed such issues as using an exit from nuclear power to promote renewable energy, and the governor said Koizumi offered words of encouragement.

In the 2014 Tokyo gubernatorial race, Koizumi backed fellow former Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa, whose platform included an immediate halt to nuclear power as a key plank. Koike -- who joined Hosokawa's short-lived Japan New Party in 1992 -- is adopting an anti-nuclear platform for the just-announced snap election, raising concerns in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party that she could work together with the popular Koizumi under the anti-nuclear flag.

Kibo no To will target Koike's existing supporters as well as voters disaffected with both the LDP and the opposition Democratic Party. In a news conference Monday peppered with references to both reform and conservatism, Koike said she established the party "because there's a need for a force for reform with no political shackles, in the truest sense."

With the general election only about a month away, whether the new outfit can recruit enough candidates remains to be seen. The governor said Kibo no To is attracting volunteers from all over Japan, and the party plans to select a mix of neophytes and veterans to run nationwide.

One high-profile defector from the LDP has already come on board. Mineyuki Fukuda, a senior vice minister of the Cabinet Office, joined Kibo no To on Monday. Koike hinted that she might have played a part in Fukuda's departure.

"There are 20 sitting lawmakers planning to participate," a party insider said.

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