Gubernatorial elections were held in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

on 13 April 2003. Incumbent governor

Shintaro Ishihara was a Japanese politician and writer who was Governor of Tokyo from 1999 to 2012. Being the former leader of the radical right Japan Restoration Party, he was one of the most prominent ultranationalists in modern Japanese politics. An ultra ...

was re-elected with the support of the Liberal Democratic Party, which was riding a nationwide wave of popularity under Prime Minister

Junichiro Koizumi Junichiro Koizumi (; , ''Koizumi Jun'ichirō'' ; born 8 January 1942) is a former Japanese politician who was Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) from 2001 to 2006. He retired from politics in 2009. He is ...

. Opposition parties had billed the election as a referendum regarding Japanese support for the

Iraq War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق ( Kurdish) , partof = the Iraq conflict and the War on terror , image ...

. Although endorsed by the LDP, Ishihara's victory was partly owed to the popularity of policies he enacted in opposition to the national government, such as stricter pollution controls.

Results

References

*
平成15年都知事選挙開票結果
*

2003 elections in Japan Shintaro Ishihara 2003 April 2003 events in Japan 2003 in Tokyo {{Japan-election-stub