Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike’s ultimate goal is to become the first female prime minister.
Despite allegations of academic fraud, Yuriko Koike was elected to her third term in office with a resounding victory. The "woman powerhouse" with a growing self-confidence shows no signs of letting up in her lust for power.
Koike: “I received the feeling that I should promote more reforms and provide more support for people’s daily lives.”
Immediately after her victory in the July 7 gubernatorial election in Tokyo, Yuriko Koike, 71, appeared to be relaxed in front of the cameras.
In a wildly contested election in which a record number of 56 candidates ran for governor, Koike won by a margin of more than 1.25 million votes over Shinji Ishimaru, 41, the former mayor of Akitakada City in Hiroshima Prefecture, who finished in second place.
Since the June 20 announcement, he has made only 12 speeches on the streets. Koike avoided debates with her rival Renho, 56, and made speeches mainly in urban areas, while Koike adopted an election strategy that was a specialty of the late former Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka, by visiting remote islands and county areas in the early stages of the campaign,” said a desk clerk of a national newspaper’s political section.
In the April issue of this year’s monthly Bungei Shunju magazine, Toshiro Kojima, a former close aide and roommate of his while studying in Egypt, once again denied that he had graduated at the top of his class from Cairo University. Mr. Kojima has even filed criminal charges. Although the election took place amidst a resurgence of “academic fraud allegations,” there was no impact on the number of votes cast.
Nevertheless, there were some nervous moments. A senior member of the Tokyo Metropolitan People’s First Association, for which Koike serves as a special advisor, revealed, “I was told by a journalist at Hachijojima Airport that the president had been arrested by a reporter.
When a reporter questioned him about his educational background at Hachijojima Airport, Koike replied, “Are you a member of the Tsubasa Party? Koike replied, “I’m a member of the Tsubasa Party. It was a gaffe, and I was worried that it might lead to trouble. However, his victory this time must have deepened his confidence that he can win even if there is a bit of a scandal.
