Former Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka will run as an independent in the next House of Representatives election, expected to be held in November, her aides said Wednesday.
Tanaka, 59, told her office in Nagaoka, Niigata Prefecture, that she will vie for the Lower House seat in the Niigata No. 5 electoral district, centering on Nagaoka.
This is the constituency Tanaka represented until she resigned as a lawmaker in August 2002, the aides said.