Staff writer

It is neither his work as a political scientist nor his popularity as a TV commentator that pushed Yoichi Masuzoe to throw himself into the crowded Tokyo gubernatorial race as an independent.

What drove him, he says, was his personal experience; the impatience and anger he developed toward the current bureaucratic elderly-care system while he cares for his mother, who suffers severe senile dementia.

"I have urged the government to change its awfully poor elderly-care system by writing books and articles, giving lectures and even disgracing my mother by featuring her in a TV program. But the central government and the Health and Welfare Ministry would never listen to me," Masuzoe, 50, told a recent open forum. "To change the nation, I thought I should become the governor of the nation's capital."

So Masuzoe is campaigning to make Tokyo "an advanced welfare city," where the elderly and disabled can enjoy their lives fully without becoming bedridden or dependent on their families.

He said he would improve rehabilitation facilities to prevent the elderly from bedridden, promote their employment to help them lead healthier lives, and construct more pedestrian- and people-friendly roads and buildings so that everybody, including wheelchairs or cane users, can move freely around town. "I estimate some 5 million yen in taxpayer money is being used annually for every bedridden elderly person. If we reduce the number of such people by promoting social welfare, it would also benefit Tokyo's fiscal reform," Masuzoe told The Japan Times.

Masuzoe also contends that spending money on social welfare is much better for economic recovery than spending it on public works projects. "Promoting welfare is also the best way to revive the economy," he said. "The current economic slump came from people's anxiety over he future. If such concerns are relieved through improved social welfare, consumption will surely expand."

Masuzoe promises to promote employment of women and the elderly. "I'm not saying the elderly should work everyday. Working elderly people, even those who work only once or twice a week, tend to become ill less frequently than those who are not working at all," said Masuzoe.

Masuzoe is also pledging to ask the central government to provide half the funding for the Metropolitan Police Department, which he claims would cut metro government expenses by about 250 billion yen, and to increase the number of vice governors to form a decision-making team similar to the Cabinet.

Many of Masuzoe's policy platforms sound unique and attractive. He can also count on public recognition established by his frequent media appearances. But Masuzoe, who has no administrative or political experience, may have to convince voters that he would not become another Yukio Aoshima.

Aoshima, the departing governor of Tokyo, also lacked administrative experience, and was hit by criticism from many who voted for him in 1995 that he was effectively controlled by bureaucrats during his four years in office.

Attempting to explain how he is different from Aoshima, Masuzoe cited the fact that former Upper House member Chimpei Nozue dropped out of the race to support him. "Among the six major candidates, only I was able to draw a contender into my own camp," Masuzoe said.

In the process, he broke ranks with Liberal Democratic Party Lower House member Shinichiro Kurimoto, who had earlier expressed support for Masuzoe's campaign. "I am a person who can effectively compromise if needed, and decisively part with those who won't follow my policies," That, Masuzoe said, "shows that I am different from Aoshima."