Incumbent, 2 challengers vie in Chiba gubernatorial election

Japan Policy & Politics, Feb 28, 2005

CHIBA, Japan, Feb. 24 Kyodo

Incumbent Gov. Akiko Domoto and two challengers filed their candidacies Thursday in the March 13 Chiba gubernatorial election.

Domoto, 72, who is seeking a second four-year term, is opposed by Kensaku Morita, 55, an actor and former lawmaker, and Yasutaro Yamada, 61, a lawyer backed by the Japanese Communist Party.

Domoto, a former career TV journalist and House of Councillors member, has pledged to continue her policy over the last four years of support for child-rearing and boosting the local economy. Morita has vowed to strengthen law and order and cut crime, while Yamada has criticized the governor for focusing on development projects.

All the candidates are listed as independents, but Domoto is supported by the Social Democratic Party and the local chapters of the Democratic Party of Japan, as well as by New Komeito.

Morita, a former member of the House of Councillors and of the House of Representatives in the Liberal Democratic Party, is backed by the prefectural chapter of the LDP.

Domoto worked as a television reporter and director for 30 years before she was elected to the upper house in 1989. She served in the upper chamber until 2001, first as member of the Japan Socialist Party, now the SDP, and later as a member of the now-defunct New Party Sakigake.