is a regional

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. The party was founded by Tokyo

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

Yuriko Koike is a Japanese politician who currently serves as the Governor of Tokyo since 2016. She graduated from the American University in Cairo in 1976 and was a member of the House of Representatives of Japan from 1993 until 2016, when she resigned to ...

in 2017. Koike later stepped down as the party's leader and is no longer officially affiliated with the party, however her policies and image continue to form the backbone of the party's platform and she continues to endorse and campaign for its candidates. The party won the most seats in the

Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly The is the Prefectures of Japan, prefectural parliament of Tokyo, Tokyo Metropolis. Its 127 members are elected every four years in 42 districts by single non-transferable vote. 23 electoral districts equal the Special wards of Tokyo, special wa ...

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

in what was widely described as a wave election, the party later lost control of the Assembly in the 2021 election, becoming the second-largest party in the chamber.

History

The group was founded by

, governor of Tokyo since 2016. While still a member of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), Koike began laying the groundwork for a new political party in late 2016, when she established the ''Kibo no Juku'' ("Academy of Hope") program to train potential political candidates. The program had thousands of applicants. On 31 May 2017, in advance of the upcoming local elections, she resigned from the LDP, officially becoming the new party's leader and forming an alliance with

Komeito , formerly New Komeito and abbreviated NKP, is a conservative political party in Japan founded by lay members of the Buddhist Japanese new religious movement Soka Gakkai in 1964. Since 2012, it has served in government as the junior coalitio ...

in an effort to secure a governing majority in Tokyo's parliament. On 3 July 2017, the alliance took a majority in the prefectural election, pushing out the Liberal Democratic Party with a combined 79 seats of the 127-seat assembly. All but one of Tomin First's candidates were victorious; senior LDP lawmaker

Shigeru Ishiba is a Japanese politician. Ishiba is a member of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), and is the leader of the ''Suigetsukai'' party faction, and a member of the ''Heisei Kenkyūkai'' faction, which was then led by Fukushiro Nukaga, until 2011 ...

called the election a "historic defeat" for the LDP. Koike stepped down as party head shortly after the election and was replaced by Kazusa Noda; Noda himself resigned in September 2017 and was replaced by Chiharu Araki. Two key party members, Shun Otokita and Reiko Ueda, stepped down in October, citing the closed nature of the party's leadership and its restrictions on their activities in the metropolitan assembly. Koike formed a sister national party,

Kibō no Tō was a conservative political party in Japan founded by Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike. The party was founded just before the call of the 2017 general election. The party's ideology was mainly Japanese conservatism and nationalism. Kibō no Tō ...

, in preparation for the

2017 general election This national electoral calendar for 2017 lists the national/federal elections held in 2017 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included. January *5 November ...

. The party won 50 seats and 17.36% of the vote in the election, becoming the second largest opposition party in the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

, a result which was nevertheless described as an underperformance for the party given opinion polling and expectations. The party was later effectively disbanded in May 2018 after it merged with the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

to form the

Democratic Party for the People The , abbreviated to DPP or DPFP, is a centre to centre-right political party in Japan. The party was formed on 7 May 2018 from the merger of the Democratic Party and Kibō no Tō (''Party of Hope''). In September 2020 a majority of the party ...

. In the 2021 Tokyo prefectural election, Tomin First lost a total of 15 seats, losing its status as the largest party in the Assembly to the LDP. Despite the loss of seats, the result was described by analysts as an unexpectedly strong showing from the party, as opinion polls and projections prior to the election had forecast the party losing far more seats. On October 4, 2021, less than a month before the

2021 Japanese general election General elections were held in Japan on 31 October 2021, as required by the constitution. Voting took place in all constituencies in order to elect members to the House of Representatives, the lower house of the National Diet. As the constitutio ...

, the party announced it had formed a national party called

First no Kai First no Kai ( ja, ファーストの会) is a Japanese political party. The party was founded in October 2021 as a sister party of Tomin First no Kai, a political party that is based in and only competes in the city of Tokyo. Tomin First no Kai is ...

. Party leaders justified their decision to create the party by noting that the party, which is currently the second largest party in the

, lacks any national representation with the dissolving of Kibō. The party was described by its leader, Chiharu Araki, as being a centrist conservative party. The party plans to field candidates mainly in the Tokyo metropolitan area, but they said that Tokyo mayor Yuriko Koike has not been asked to run for a seat.

Platform

The party platform for the 2017 Tokyo election advocated

open government Open government is the governing doctrine which sustain that citizens have the right to access the documents and proceedings of the government to allow for effective public oversight. In its broadest construction, it opposes reason of state and ...

, proper use of public funds, and stricter penalties for public smoking. However, the party indicated relatively vague policy objectives in advance of the election, and many voted for the party simply in order to prevent the LDP from taking control of the legislature in the wake of its recent scandals.

Presidents

Electoral results

Tokyo gubernatorial election results

Tokyo prefectural election results

References

External links

"Tokyo Metropolis residents first group" Official website

"Hope Institute" Official website
{{Japanese political parties Libertarian parties in Japan Regional parties in Japan Politics of Tokyo Political parties established in 2017 Right-wing populist parties Right-wing populism in Japan