Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto plans to form a new political party that aims to capture 200 seats in the next Lower House election and end the prefectural government system that has existed for nearly a century and a half.
The strategy, unveiled Friday, aims to create a new nationwide party called Ishin Seiji Juku, or Political Restoration School, by March. It will seek to draw its ranks from Hashimoto's local Osaka Ishin no kai (One Osaka), as well as from established opposition parties including New Komeito, Your Party and the Liberal Democratic Party.
It is estimated that 100 to 140 people in the Kansai region would run as Lower House candidates and probably either become members of or be supported by Ishin Seiji Juku. The other allied candidates would hail from other parts of Japan.