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Strategies & Market Trends : JAPAN-Nikkei-Time to go back up? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: borb who wrote (1836)	4/11/1999 1:35:00 PM
From: chirodoc	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 3902

voters fed up April 11, 1999 Nationalist Wins Tokyo Governor Race By STAFF and WIRE REPORTS OKYO -- Nationalist Shintaro Ishihara won a hotly contested race for the governorship of Tokyo on Sunday, defeating a ruling party rival and posing a potential headache for Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi's government. Television reports said Ishihara, a former ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) lawmaker running as an independent, would get around 30 percent of the vote, topping the 25 percent needed to secure the governorship of the Japanese capital, beating 18 other candidates. The Tokyo race was the most closely watched of 12 contests for prefectural governorships. Also on Sunday, a total of 4,013 candidates vyed for 2,669 seats in 44 prefectural assemblies throughout the nation. The local elections are the first nation-wide test for Obuchi since he took office last July. A victory by Ishihara could be a diplomatic thorn and a domestic headache for the government of Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi. Ishihara -- known for his impatience with Japan's defence reliance on America -- wants to shut down the U.S. military's Yokota Air Base near Tokyo and turn it into a new international airport. Yokota is one of the largest U.S. air bases in Asia. He is not one to mince words on ties with the United States or other diplomatic matters, as seen in his reference to "American bullying of Japan" in a recent book. The prize-winning author has also irritated China with his penchant for calling it "Shina," a term with overtones of wartime Japanese imperialism, and by saying he does not trust Beijing. While some analysts said an Ishihara victory reflected a general swing to the right in Japan, others said it was more a sign that voters were fed up with those in power, whether a staid central government or Washington officials. Ishihara's victory is likely to fan internal LDP factional fights ahead of an election for party president set for September. Some in the party want to hold the poll this summer instead to ensure Obuchi gets at least one more year in office. Analysts have said, however, that the fate of Obuchi's government is more likely to hinge on economic developments in the next few months, as politicians ponder whether an extra budget is needed this business year to keep the economy on track for recover