The results of the Osaka gubernatorial and mayoral elections on Sunday may suggest that local voters are still not happy with the status quo of Kansai’s largest prefecture and city and are seeking reforms. The landslide wins by the incumbent governor and mayoral candidate backed by the Osaka Ishin no Kai group testify that its founder, Toru Hashimoto, who still maintains he will retire as a politician when his term as mayor ends next month, remains immensely popular. Still, members of the group should realize they need to cooperate — and not repeat their confrontation — with other political forces if they want to pursue their agenda, including reviving Hashimoto’s once-rejected pet project of reorganizing Osaka’s administrative structure.
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