Win or lose on Oct. 22, the energized opposition force coalescing around Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike is already changing the political conversation for the better in three specific ways.
One, it's upping pressure on Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to get serious about reforms to reanimate the economy, not just rely on a weak yen and spin. Two, it's calling the Liberal Democratic Party on its counterproductive fealty to nuclear power. Three, it's challenging the LDP's misguided we-must-raise-taxes mantra.
This last topic deserves far more attention than it's gotten. Support for halting the consumption tax hike is a litmus test for joining the Tokyo governor's Kibo no To (Party of Hope). One can hope the debate this generates ahead of the snap election highlights the lunacy of raising levies on a deflation-plagued population that hasn't had a healthy raise in decades.