Candidates for the Tokyo gubernatorial election spent the first weekend of the campaign busy attracting voters amid drizzly weather as contrasting strategies began to emerge.
For the July 7 poll, for which campaigning kicked off Thursday, incumbent Yuriko Koike has prioritized businesses and visited small towns and cities in the capital, while challenger Renho has focused on making speeches in central Tokyo hoping to reach as many people as possible.
Early polls from the Asahi Shimbun and the Nikkei this weekend both showed Koike, who is seeking her third term, leading the field of 56 candidates — the highest number of candidates in the city’s history — while Renho was ahead hunting was to the right. behind. Shinji Ishimaru, the 41-year-old former mayor of Akitakata city in Hiroshima Prefecture, came third.
