Yoshiro Nakamatsu, better known as inventor Dr. NakaMats, announced Monday he will run in the April 13 Tokyo gubernatorial election as an independent.

It will be Nakamatsu's third try for the governorship, following campaigns in 1991 and 1999.

"I am running because the war has started," Nakamatsu, 74, told a news conference. He said he wants to help change the world from Tokyo.

A University of Tokyo engineering alumnus, Nakamatsu serves as vice president for technology at Newport Asia Pacific University in California, and is a visiting professor at Tokyo's Takushoku University. He currently heads Dr. NakaMats Innovation Institute.