Tokyo Governor election race kicks off, with incumbent Koike leading the pack

TOKYO - Election campaigning for the right to lead Tokyo, a bustling mega-metropolis of 14 million people with an economy the size of Indonesia's, kicked off Thursday (June 18) with a crowded field of candidates looking to topple incumbent Governor Yuriko Koike.

Voters will go to the polls on July 5 with such hot-button issues as the city's coronavirus response and the postponed Olympic Games high on the agenda.

Ms Koike, 67, is the front-runner, having won public praise for her decisiveness in coronavirus measures that set her apart from Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the national government, which has been described as dawdling at best and bungling at worst.

But she is not without controversy. Questions were raised, then debunked, over the veracity of her graduation certificate from Cairo University in 1976.

Critics have also said that the former newscaster is very polished at "soundbite politics" but has produced few results.

Another 21 candidates have entered the fray, with the following cited as the leading contenders:

- Mr Kenji Utsunomiya, 73, a prominent lawyer and former head of the Japan Federation of Bar Associations. This is his third race after coming in second twice.

- Mr Taisuke Ono, 46, a Tokyo-born former deputy governor of Kumamoto prefecture.

- Mr Taro Yamamoto, 45, an actor turned chief of opposition party Reiwa Shinsengumi, which made waves when two severely-disabled candidates were elected to the Upper House last year.

Covid-19 took centre stage as the candidates made their first campaign speeches on Thursday, as Tokyo recorded another 41 cases - an indication that the city is not out of the woods even as Japan lifts its restrictions entirely on Friday (June 19).

Ms Koike stressed the need to prepare for a second wave, and said she will set up a Tokyo version of the United States' Centers for Disease Control, while other candidates pledged more help to those who have had their livelihoods upended by the crisis.

While Ms Koike is in favour of possibly a slimmed down version of the Olympics next year if a lid has not been put on Covid-19, her competitors are proposing either an outright cancellation or for the Games to be held in 2024 instead.

Her track record for her first term will come under scrutiny, with critics noting that she has only managed to achieve one of her "seven zeros" campaign pledge: the elimination of pet exterminations. The others, including putting an end to daycare centre wait-lists, remain elusive.

There was also the debacle of the relocation of the Tsukiji fish market to Toyosu, which was delayed by two years. The plan was first to convert the former Tsukiji site into a "culinary theme park" and then to an international conference hall, but its fate is still up in the air.

Dr Sota Kato, executive director of The Tokyo Foundation for Policy Research think tank, noted that incumbents have never lost in previous Tokyo elections.

"Regardless of Koike's accomplishment in her first term, I think her chance of winning the election is very, very high," he told The Straits Times.

Political scientist Koichi Nakano of Sophia University added that Ms Koike has pitted herself against the national government in a tug-of-war over coronavirus measures.

"While she has achieved very little in terms of her campaign promises four years ago, she now has the advantage of being compared to Abe and appears to be much more on top of things," he told ST.