Women fight Tokyo election in male-dominated Japan

TOKYO, Japan — Tokyo residents clutching fans and cold drinks took to polling stations Sunday to elect their governor, with two prominent women vying for the job in Japan's male-dominated political sphere.

Japan has never had a woman prime minister and a large majority of lawmakers are men, but Tokyo, accounting for a tenth of the national population and a fifth of the economy, has been run since 2016 by former minister and television anchor Yuriko Koike, 71.

She is being challenged by opposition figure Renho, 56, also a veteran political and ex-anchor who goes by one name.

With temperatures topping 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit) in parts of the capital, voters complained of the heat as they went to cast their ballots.

Akiko Mimori, 58, held a parasol against the blazing sun moments after voting.

"I came here as I felt it's necessary to cast a ballot for (the election of) the governor of where I live," she told AFP.

While few now tout Koike as a possible future prime minister, as many once did, polls suggest that the media-savvy conservative will win a third straight term in the metropolis of 14 million people.

This will be some relief to the ruling Liberal Democratic Party of deeply unpopular Prime Minister Fumio Kishida which backs Koike, even though she broke away from the LDP in 2017.

The government's public support rate has been dwindling to around 20 percent, partly due to a political funds scandal revealed late last year, and Kishida will face the LDP leadership election later this year before a national vote due by late 2025.

The Tokyo vote comes after new government data showed the birth rate hit a record low of 1.20 last year, with Tokyo's figure 0.99 -- the first Japan region to fall below one.

Both Koike and her nearest rival Renho have pledged to expand support for parenting, with the former promising subsidised epidurals.

"After having their first child, I hear people say they don't want to experience that pain again," Koike said, according to local media.

"I want people to see childbirth and raising children as a happiness, not a risk," said the incumbent, who has campaigned with an AI-version of herself.

Renho, meanwhile, pledged to