Tokyo Gov. Koike becomes leader of political group ahead of election

Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike became the leader of a political group Thursday ahead of an election for the metropolitan assembly slated for July 2, taking a clearly confrontational stance against the ruling Liberal Democratic Party she intends to leave."I submitted a letter to leave the party to show my determination to go ahead with the drastic reform of Tokyo," Koike said at a kickoff meeting prior to the start of the assembly election campaign.Koike, who became Tokyo's first female governor last August, took the helm of Tomin First no Kai (group that puts Tokyo residents first), a political gr…READ FULL ARTICLE