OSAKA ¨C A popular, media-savvy figure originally from the Kansai region wins the governorship by running as a reformer, then forming a political party to take on the Liberal Democratic Party in the local assembly election. Upon winning a plurality of votes, the party teams up with Komeito to form a majority, even as its leaders hope to build a nationwide movement.
Sound familiar? With her Tomin First no Kai (Tokyoites First) party winning 55 seats in Sunday¡¯s Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly election, Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike, who is originally from Hyogo Prefecture, took a page out of the playbook of former Osaka governor and mayor ¡ª and co-founder of the Nippon Ishin movement ¡ª Toru Hashimoto.
Indeed, Tomin First and Nippon Ishin, and its Osaka political group Osaka Ishin no Kai, seem alike in several fundamental ways.
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