A high-ranking bureaucrat of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government had this to say about new Tokyo Gov. Naoki Inose: "Although he served as vice governor, it is not known whether he has the necessary political finesse. I wonder if he is capable of moving metropolitan politics forward."
In the Dec. 16 Tokyo gubernatorial election, Inose garnered more than 4.3 million votes, the largest in any election in the nation's history. He was the handpicked heir of Gov. Shintaro Ishihara, who had stepped down to run for the Lower House.
According to a midlevel metropolitan government official, even though Inose served as vice governor under Ishihara for more than five years, he would have to start from scratch in dealing with the bureaucracy, the top echelon of which are filled with those who were obedient to Ishihara but only superficially.