Yuriko Koike on Sunday was elected the first woman governor of Tokyo city, reported Reuters. Koike, who was Japan's first female defence minister belongs, to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Liberal Democratic Party. The 64-year-old beat fellow party member Hiroya Masuda and liberal journalist Shuntaro Torigoe in the elections.
"Taking this result very heavily, as the new governor, I would like move forward firmly with the administration of the metropolis," Koike said. She reportedly did not inform the party before announcing her nomination, and that is believed to have riled several senior leaders who put Masuda forward as her contender.
Of many things, the 2020 summer Olympics Games that Japan will host figured in the poll campaigns. "The Olympics are right in front of us. I want to use them as a chance to build a new Tokyo for beyond 2020," the new governor said before the elections.
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