The 1999 Tokyo gubernatorial election were held on April 11, 1999 as part of the 14th unified local elections. Incumbent

Yukio Aoshima was a Japanese politician who served as Governor of Tokyo from 1995 to 1999. He is also well known as a TV actor, novelist, film director, screenwriter and songwriter. Early life and artistic career Yukio was born in Nihonbashi ward of Tokyo ...

announced that he would not seek re-election. All major candidates ran as independents but several were supported by major parties. The

Liberal Democratic Party Several political parties from around the world have been called the Liberal Democratic Party, Democratic Liberal Party or Liberal Democrats. These parties have usually followed liberalism as ideology, although they can vary widely from very progr ...

, led by Secretary General Yoshiro Mori, supported

Yasushi Akashi Yasushi Akashi (明石康 ''Akashi Yasushi'', born January 19, 1931) is a Japanese senior diplomat and United Nations Administration (government), administrator. Overview Akashi graduated with Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of T ...

as a compromise with coalition partner

New Komeito , formerly New Komeito (NKP) and commonly referred to as simply Komei, is a political party in Japan founded by the leader of Soka Gakkai, Daisaku Ikeda, in 1964. It is generally considered centrist and socially conservative. Since 2012, it ha ...

, but local LDP legislators divided their support between candidates Ishihara, Masuzoe and Kakizawa. Author and former Diet member

Shintaro Ishihara was a Japanese politician and writer, who served as the Governor of Tokyo Metropolis, Governor of Tokyo from 1999 to 2012. Being the former leader of the Far-right politics, radical right Sunrise Party, later merged with Toru Hashimoto's Japan ...

, who had previously come in second in the 1975 gubernatorial election against incumbent governor

Ryokichi Minobe was a Japanese economist, educator, and socialist politician who served as Governor of Tokyo from 1967 to 1979. Early life Minobe was born in Tokyo's Hongō Ward. His father, Tatsukichi Minobe, was a noted constitutional scholar at Tokyo Imper ...

, won the election on a nationalist platform, saying that he would have the United States return

Yokota Air Base , is a Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF) and United States Air Force (USAF) base in the Tama Area, or Western Tokyo. It occupies portions of Akishima, Fussa, Hamura, Mizuho, Musashimurayama, and Tachikawa. The base houses 14,000 pers ...

to Japan and clarify its position on Japan's ownership of the

Senkaku Islands The Senkaku Islands, known as the Diaoyu Islands in China and the Tiaoyutai Islands in Taiwan, are a group of uninhabited islands in the East China Sea, administered by Japan. They were historically known in the Western world as the Pinnacle ...

. Akashi came in fourth, the poorest showing by an LDP-supported candidate in Tokyo history.

Results

*Note: This list excludes twelve other candidates, none of whom received more than 0.3% of total votes.

References

{{TokyoPrefecture elections Tokyo gubernatorial election Shintaro Ishihara Tokyo gubernatorial elections Tokyo gubernatorial election

Gubernatorial election A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the type of political region or polity, a ''governor'' ma ...