1.With less than a week left before the Tokyo gubernatorial election on Sunday, Gov. Yuriko Koike remains in the lead but with her main challenger Renho at her heels and dark horse candidate Shinji Ishimaru also building momentum.
2.Polling data by all major news sources collected over the weekend showed that the 71-year-old incumbent continues to be the most popular of the election’s 56 candidates — albeit by a small margin.
3.Koike is being backed by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, while Renho has the support of the main opposition group, the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDP), making the Tokyo vote something of a proxy war for the national political parties.
Incumbent governor Yuriko Koike is running for a third term. How do you assess her performance as Governor of Tokyo over the past eight years, and what are some of the most significant controversies surrounding her tenure?
4.A telephone survey conducted by Kyodo News found that Koike had support from around 50% of voters aligned with the LDP and around 70% of those who support its junior coalition partner Komeito.
5.Renho had the support of 70% of CDP supporters and around 80% of those of the Japanese Communist Party. In terms of nonaligned voters, Koike had the support of 30%, while both Renho and Ishimaru had over 20% each.
6.Male voters were split between Koike and Renho, while female voters leaned toward Koike, who had the highest popularity among them, at a little less than 40%. Those in their 30s to 60s tended to support Koike, while those over 70 backed Renho. Ishimaru was most popular among those in their 20s or under.
7.As the campaign enters its final week, the focus of the election continues to be centered on policies addressing the rapidly declining birth rate in the capital. Yet a Yomiuri Shimbun poll found that measures regarding the aging society, welfare policies and disaster resilience were of highest concern for voters.
8.Another major issue that has continued to crop up is the Meiji Jingu Gaien redevelopment plan. The large-scale project, set to be completed by 2036, involves the rebuilding of historic sports facilities and parks in the area.
9.The plan has been controversial since the beginning due to the impact on the area’s greenery and history, but the issue has grown in importance since Koike OK’d the initiative in 2023.
