Tokyo governor takes on old-boy network

Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike speaks at an interview with Reuters in Tokyo, Japan May 29, 2017. Picture taken on May 29, 2017. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon

TOKYO: Tokyo governor Yuriko Koike (pic) is challenging the old-boy network in the capital, where she thrashed a ruling party rival to win her post and now aims to lead reform-minded candidates to victory in a city-wide July election.

A popular former TV announcer who speaks Arabic and English, Koike is the leader of a mega-metropolis with an economy bigger than Holland’s and a budget on par with Sweden’s – and her reformist image has some politicians betting she could become Japan’s first female premier in a few years.