Tokyo Elects First Ever Female Governor To Oversee 2020 Olympics

Yurikio Koike

Tokyo "elected its first ever female governor, putting Yuriko Koike in charge of the city’s troubled preparations for the 2020 Olympic Games after she defied prime minister Shinzo Abe and the political establishment to run for the post," according to Harding & Inagaki of the FINANCIAL TIMES. Koike -- a former TV newscaster who was also the first woman to serve as Japan’s defence minister -- "was on course for a resounding victory on Sunday, with exit polls giving her 47.4 per cent of the vote." Koike, who ran as an independent, "will become one of Japan’s most powerful female politicians in history." Abe’s government "had refused to endorse" Koike, even though she "was a member of parliament from his ruling Liberal Democratic party, and had recruited former communications minister Hiroya Masuda to run against her." Koike "will take over preparations for the 2020 Olympics, which are already plagued by rows over the cost of the stadium and a plagiarism scandal over its logo" (FT, 7/31).