Prize-winning novelist and former Transport Minister Shintaro Ishihara formally declared Wednesday that he will run as an independent in the April 11 Tokyo gubernatorial election.
Ishihara's candidacy makes the race even more unpredictable and could spell further trouble for the Liberal Democratic Party, which is fielding former U.N. Undersecretary General Yasushi Akashi.
"I will carry out a revolution (in Tokyo) as the people's representative," Ishihara told a news conference at the Japan National Press Club in the afternoon.