The Daily Yomiuri
Reelected incumbent Hokkaido Gov. Harumi Takahashi
Yuji Kuroiwa, a former TV anchorman elected Kanagawa governor
Incumbent Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara comfortably beat 10 rivals to be reelected Sunday for a fourth four-year term.
Ishihara, a 78-year-old novelist-turned-politician, defeated high-profile challengers including former House of Councillors member Akira Koike; Miki Watanabe, founder of izakaya pub chain operator Watami Co.; and former Miyazaki Gov. Hideo Higashikokubaru.
Ishihara ran as an independent but was effectively supported by the Liberal Democratic Party and New Komeito. The Democratic Party of Japan did not field a candidate due to recent poor public approval ratings for Prime Minister Naoto Kan, who is DPJ president. Watanabe, 51, was backed by Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly members of the DPJ.
The Japanese Communist Party endorsed Koike, 50. Seven other candidates also ran.
After he was assured of winning Sunday night, Ishihara said he would continue to enhance antidisaster measures during his fourth term, and suggested people should stop playing pachinko to conserve electricity.
"If you ask me what I would do after winning a fourth term, I would say I'll keep doing the same [as I have until now]," Ishihara said in his Tokyo office. "I'll strengthen our measures against disasters. Tokyo is Japan's driving force. If Tokyo comes to a halt, Japan will come to a halt as well.
"Japan won't survive unless we rein in our selfish desires and live more humbly. Let's get all Japanese people pushing in the same direction."
Voter turnout in the Tokyo election was 57.8 percent, 3.45 points higher than the previous election.
With 99 percent of votes counted, Ishihara had garnered 2,608,318 ballots to Higashikokubaru's 1,682,874. Watanabe had 1,002,909 votes and Koike 620,309.
Commenting on electricity shortages caused when the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant--a major power supplier for Tokyo and the Kanto region--was crippled during last month's earthquake and tsunami, Ishihara said Sunday evening, "No country other than Japan consumes nearly 10 million kilowatts for pachinko parlors and vending machines."
"This is equal to the Fukushima plant's power output, so we should correct such a lifestyle," he added. "I think the government should issue a decree to conserve power. People who play pachinko should be able to get by without it. We can live without vending machines."
In the 11 other gubernatorial races, all eight incumbents seeking reelection won.
Sunday's local elections represented a major setback for the DPJ, as it lost all the gubernatorial elections--for Tokyo, Hokkaido and Mie Prefecture--in which it squared off with the main opposition LDP.
Campaigning by the major candidates was relatively low-key. They refrained from vigorously appealing to voters amid a mood of self-restraint following the devastating March 11 disaster that left more than 13,000 people dead and almost 15,000 still unaccounted for.
During the campaign period, Ishihara mostly focused on his official duties as governor and worked on Tokyo's response to the events of March 11, rather than taking to the streets to seek voter support.
In Sunday's first round of the 17th unified local elections, the first held since the DPJ came to power in 2009, voting took place in 12 gubernatorial and 41 prefectural assembly races as well as mayoral elections in four ordinance-designated cities--Hiroshima, Shizuoka, Sagamihara and Sapporo--and assembly races in 15 ordinance-designated cities.
Many voters focused on disaster prevention and nuclear power policies in the wake of the nuclear crisis in Fukushima Prefecture.
Due to severe damage caused by the March 11 disaster, Iwate Prefecture delayed its gubernatorial poll, and prefectural assembly races in Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures were suspended. The Sendai assembly election was postponed.
In the race for the Kanagawa governorship, Yuji Kuroiwa, a 56-year-old former TV anchorman supported by local chapters of the DPJ, the LDP and New Komeito, won for the first time. He defeated Your Party-backed Junichi Tsuyuki, a 55-year-old former town mayor, and two other candidates.
In Hokkaido, incumbent Gov. Harumi Takahashi, 57, who was backed by the LDP, won a third term over Toshiaki Kimura, a 50-year-old former farm ministry bureaucrat supported by the DPJ, Social Democratic Party and People's New Party. Two other candidates ran.
Attention leading up to the Hokkaido election was focused on how voters would evaluate Takahashi's previous two terms in office and the candidates' plans to revitalize the region.
In Mie Prefecture, Eikei Suzuki, 36, who was backed by the LDP and Your Party, beat former Tsu Mayor Naohisa Matsuda, 56, supported by the DPJ, and Emi Okano, 58, of the JCP. It was the first win for Suzuki, who became the nation's youngest governor.
In Fukui Prefecture, home to 14 nuclear reactors--the most in the country--incumbent Gov. Issei Nishikawa, 66, won a third term over Kunihiro Uno, 59, of the JCP. During the campaign, Nishikawa, who was backed by the LDP and New Komeito, stressed nuclear power plants should be made safer in the wake of the accidents at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant. Uno called for an end to the country's dependence on nuclear energy.
In Shimane Prefecture, incumbent Gov. Zenbe Mizoguchi, 65, supported by the LDP and New Komeito, was elected to a second term, defeating JCP candidate Shinichi Mukose, 40.
In Saga Prefecture, incumbent Gov. Yasushi Furukawa, 52, backed by the LDP and New Komeito, won a third term over Masakatsu Hirabayashi, 63, of the JCP.
In Nara Prefecture, incumbent Gov. Shogo Arai, 66, won a second term, beating JCP-backed Shigekazu Kitano, 73, and Shunji Shiomi, 61, chairman of a local doctors association.
In Tottori Prefecture, incumbent Gov. Shinji Hirai, 49, won a second term, defeating JCP-backed Atsuko Yamanouchi, 68.
In Tokushima Prefecture, incumbent Gov. Kamon Iizumi, 50, captured a third term by beating Chiyoko Yamamoto, 62, of the JCP.
In Fukuoka Prefecture, Hiroshi Ogawa, 61, a former cabinet secretary for public relations who was backed by the DPJ, LDP and three other parties, defeated JCP-supported Takaaki Tamura, 49, a former Kitakyushu assembly member.
In Oita Prefecture, incumbent Gov. Katsusada Hirose, 68, supported by the SDP, secured a third term over JCP-backed Noboru Mieno, 72.
In Sapporo, incumbent Mayor Fumio Ueda, 62, backed by the DPJ, SDP and PNP, defeated LDP-backed Nana Honma, 41, for a third term.
In the Hiroshima mayoral election, Kazumi Matsui, 58, backed by the LDP and New Komeito, beat five other candidates.
In Sagamihara, Kanagawa Prefecture, incumbent Mayor Toshio Kayama, 66, was elected to a second term over two other candidates.
In the Shizuoka mayoral election, LDP-backed Nobuhiro Tanabe, 49, beat former upper house lawmaker Toru Unno, 61, and Nobuo Yasutake, a 64-year-old independent.
In Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture, incumbent Mayor Yasutomo Suzuki, 53, was reelected uncontested. This was the first time a mayoral election in an ordinance-designated city had been decided without a vote.
In the Osaka prefectural assembly poll, Osaka Ishin no Kai (Osaka restoration group), a local political party led by Osaka Gov. Toru Hashimoto, was assured of becoming the largest party in the 109-seat assembly.
The second round of unified local elections--including mayoral and assembly polls in other cities, towns and villages, mayoral elections in 13 of Tokyo's 23 wards and assembly elections in 22 Tokyo wards--will be held April 24. A by-election for a House of Representatives seat in Aichi Constituency No. 6 also will be held that day.
(Apr. 11, 2011)
2008-03-12 23:47:57
読売新聞と会見するジュリアーニ前ニューヨーク市長（１日、ニューヨークで）＝小西太郎撮影