Did Yuriko Koike just give Abenomics a second lease on life?
The emergency Liberal Democratic Party meeting on Monday morning said everything about Koike's resounding victory a day earlier. The wallop metropolitan assembly candidates favored by Tokyo's first female governor delivered to Prime Minister Abe's party is a big deal. It could have national implications, just as a similar thumping presaged the LDP losing power in 2009. Koike is now, more than ever, a threat to Abe's prime ministership.
But I've learned the perils of underestimating Abe. Few of us longtime Tokyo scribes thought he'd be back after his dreadful first 2006-2007 stint as leader. I've marveled, too, at Abe's public-relations skills, selling a weaker yen and a few modest regulatory tweaks as Japan's Reagan/Thatcher moment. The same goes for his often gravity-defying support rates. Then again, Koike's win mean may signal Teflon Abe is no more. A factoid worth considering: Sunday's turnout was almost as high as in 1993, the only other time the LDP lost power.