Tokyo Governor Koike - will examine steps to exit nuclear power dependence by 2030

Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike, head of Japan's Party of Hope, attends a news conference at the Japan National Press Club in Tokyo, Japan September 28, 2017. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon

TOKYO (Reuters) - Popular Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike, whose fledgling party is gaining momentum ahead of an Oct. 22 general election, said on Thursday at a news conference that she would look into what steps are needed to reduce Japan's dependence on nuclear energy to zero by 2030.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is calling the snap poll in the hope his Liberal Democratic Party-led coalition can keep its majority in the parliament's lower house, where it now holds two-thirds of the seats.