A popular, media-savvy figure originally from the Kansai region wins the governorship by running as a reformer, then forming a political party to take on the Liberal Democratic Party in the local assembly election. Upon winning a plurality of votes, the party teams up with Komeito to form a majority, even as its leaders hope to build a nationwide movement.
Sound familiar? With her Tomin First no Kai (Tokyoites First) party winning 55 seats in Sunday's Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly election, Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike, who is originally from Hyogo Prefecture, took a page out of the playbook of former Osaka governor and mayor — and co-founder of the Nippon Ishin movement — Toru Hashimoto.
Indeed, Tomin First and Nippon Ishin, and its Osaka political group Osaka Ishin no Kai, seem alike in several fundamental ways.