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.
It was in October 1973 that Mr. Koike transferred to Cairo University, which has become a point of contention in the issue of academic fraud. In his book, in which he recalled his life as an exchange student, he included an episode in which he climbed to the top of the pyramids and made tea while wearing a furisode kimono to commemorate his graduation, complete with a photograph.
After returning to Japan in December 1976, she worked as an Arabic interpreter. In 1979, he began his career as a newscaster, and in 1988 he became the main newscaster of “World Business Satellite” (TV Tokyo). It was in 1992 that his career as a “political migratory bird” began.
I joined the Japan New Party, which was formed by former Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa (86). I ran for the upper house election that year in the proportional district and was elected for the first time, but I came in second on the proportional list behind Mr. Hosokawa. This caused a backlash from the members who had been involved in the party since its formation.
The following year, in 1993, he switched to the House of Representatives. After serving in the New Frontier Party, the Liberal Party, and the Conservative Party, he joined the LDP in 2002.
He was favored by the powerful of the time, including Hosokawa, Ozawa Ichiro (82), Mori Yoshiro (86), and Koizumi Junichiro (82), and steadily rose through the ranks. In 2007, she was appointed Minister of Defense, and in ’08, she ran for President of Japan, and she left behind a string of achievements that were crowned with the title of ‘first woman. It can be said that she not only moved from one political party to another, but was also adept at riding the currents of the times,” said a veteran LDP secretary.
In 2004, Koike became the first woman governor of Tokyo. Since then, Koike has continued to look “up. That is why rumors about her “return to national politics” circulate whenever a lower house election is held.
