Japanese ex-PM Hosokawa to run for Tokyo governor

TOKYO - Japanese former prime minister Morihiro Hosokawa decided to run in the upcoming Tokyo governor election, local media reported Friday.

Hosokawa, 75, served as prime minister between August 1993 and April 1994, aims to gain support from a wide range of voters without running on any party's ticket, said Japan's Kyodo News.

The former prime minister will meet with Junichiro Koizumi, also a former prime minister, early next week over possible coordination over antinuclear movements as they agreed on the stance that Japan should not depend on nuclear power generation when they met in October, according to the report.

The gubernatorial election will be held on February 9. Tokyo Governor Naoki Inose resigned last month after admitting he received 50 million yen (about $476,550) from scandal- tainted hospital chain Tokushukai.

Members of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Liberal Democratic Party in the Tokyo metropolitan assembly are mulling to recommend Yoichi Masuzoe, a 65-year-old former health minister, for the post.

Kenji Utsunomiya, a 67-year-old former head of the Japan Federation of Bar Associations, former Air Self-Defense Force chief Toshio Tamogami, 65, and 85-year-old inventor Yoshiro Nakamatsu also planned to run for the governor seat, said the report.