Yet another basic change has jolted Japan's established regional power structure. This time around, it occurred in Sunday's gubernatorial election in Tochigi Prefecture, in which "floating voters" succeeded in demonstrating their political power. Riding on the strength of such unorganized voters, a 52-year-old challenger overturned the 16-year-long reign of the incumbent governor, who had the backing of all the major political parties. Despite some local differences, the Tochigi electoral results represent an essential followup to what happened in the gubernatorial election in Nagano Prefecture last month. Grass-roots voters won out over those mobilized by the political establishment.
Mr. Akio Fukuda, former mayor of Imaichi City, a small city in western Tochigi, defeated Mr. Fumio Watanabe, the 71-year-old incumbent vying for a fifth term, with a slim margin of 875 votes. In the election, which saw a voter turnout of 45.63 percent, Mr. Fukuda collected 336,161 votes, Mr. Watanabe garnered 335,286 and a third candidate, supported by the Japanese Communist Party, got 34,009.
There were several crucial differences between the two major candidates. The two clearly differed in their approach to the controversial question of whether large-scale public-works projects should remain viable in this "postbubble period," when balanced and pro-environmental social and economic development must be pursued. Their differences went further than a mere contrariety in their campaign slogans. Mr. Fukuda's participation in the gubernatorial contest had been motivated by his opposition to the prefectural government's plan to construct a large dam that the central government supports. Only three months ago, he mounted a challenge against Mr. Watanabe because he believed the current prefectural administration's outright rejection of his opposition to the project reflected the higher political establishment's failure to understand the democratic philosophy of delegating powers to lower administrative entities.