Statement by Kengo Sakurada, Chairman of Keizai Doyukai on Official Start of Tokyo Gubernatorial Election Campaign

June 18, 2020

Kengo Sakurada
Chairman, Keizai Doyukai

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1. The Tokyo gubernatorial election campaign has officially started today. This election will mainly focus on responses to the new coronavirus pandemic as well as recovery of daily lives and the economy. We request each candidate to present a plan--particularly envisaging the environment after a second wave of infections--with numerical criteria that strike a balance between economic revival and self-restraint measures, and with feasible socio-economic activities.
2. First, the plan should elaborate on the measures for the successful Tokyo Olympics/Paralympics next year, with an eye on our future with/post Corona. Second, it should upgrade the debate by demonstrating the concrete policy alternatives for voters with regard to the agenda such as:
   1. a reform of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government for responding to the 'new normal' and
   2. gaining Tokyo's competitive edge as a global city, by applying the Revised Act of National Strategic Special Zone that enables the "Super City Initiative" through use of the state-of-the-art technologies.
3. The current environment will force the voting to be carried out with particular vigilance against the spread of infections. In this regard, the Internet and other tools are to be utilized to their maximum permitted within the scope of the Public Offices Election Act. We then request each candidate to exercise ingenuity, during the campaign period, in demonstrating his or her pledge in an easy-to-understand manner, while requesting voters--young ones in particular--to cast their ballots by all means, for electing a leader who guides the "New Tokyo."

Japanese version