Campaigning officially started Thursday for the Dec. 16 Tokyo gubernatorial election as candidates crisscrossed the capital to make speeches vowing to make the metropolis a better place.
The poll will be held on the same day as the general election — for the first time ever.
Nine people are running to fill the shoes of longtime Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara, including Vice Gov. Naoki Inose, former Kanagawa Gov. Shigefumi Matsuzawa, lawyer Kenji Utsunomiya, and former science and technology minister Takashi Sasagawa.