Yuriko Koike made history to become Tokyo’s first female governor, and may go on to bigger things SUO TAKEKUMA/KYODO NEWSTokyo The leader of a party formed a month ago is being tipped as Japan’s first woman prime minister after taking control of the Tokyo city government. Yuriko Koike, 64, was already the capital’s first female governor before yesterday’s elections in which Tokyoites First were predicted to win 50 of the assembly’s 127 seats, with 13 for the prime minister Shinzo Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). Polls indicate that she is the only politician with the personal support to rival Mr Abe, whose popularity has been hit by scandal and a failure to deliver strong economic growth. As governor, the former LDP cabinet minister has pledged to cut the costs of the 2020 Olympics, while Mr Abe faces allegations that he influenced a decision that…

Source: The Times July 03, 2017 04:07 UTC