Tokyo’s first female governor, Yuriko Koike, has been re-elected as Tokyo’s governor for the third consecutive term, glueing her to the position got the next 4 years.
Declaring victory, Ms Koike said her main challenge was “how to proceed with digital transformation as industries have changed significantly.” She said she would consolidate efforts to keep improving Tokyo, including “the environment for women’s empowerment”, which she said was “insufficient [in Japan] compared to other parts of the world.”
Ms Koike’s appointment makes her one of the most powerful women in Japan’s male-dominated politics. She told the BBC that she won her first term “because I [am] a woman”. “People prefer to have something new, or somebody new, in order to change society,” she said then.
Who is Yuriko Koike?
When Yuriko Koike entered politics in the early 1990s, she had already established herself as a journalist by working as a television news anchor. However, it wasn’t until 2016 that she achieved genuine national recognition following her initial election as Tokyo’s governor. Despite not being the LDP’s official candidate, she won with ease and became the first woman to hold the position with over 2.9 million votes.