On Nov. 21 Naoki Inose, the vice governor of Tokyo Prefecture under Shintaro Ishihara, who decided to cut his tenure short and make a run for national office, finally announced his candidacy for the governor's seat. That contest will be decided in a special election set for Dec. 16, the same date on which the nation will vote for a new Lower House.

Inose, a writer by trade who belongs to no party, is virtually assured of winning because he has not only been endorsed by Ishihara himself, but also by the Liberal Democratic Party, the Komeito, Your Party and, naturally, Nihon Reformation Party, which just absorbed Ishihara's fledgling Sunrise Party. There will be at least four other candidates running for Tokyo governor, but media say they have almost no chance.

Because Inose is considered a shoo-in, some people are wondering: Why bother with an election? According to the law, if the governor resigns or dies or otherwise leaves office before his or her term is up, an election has to be held to choose a new governor. The vice governor only takes over until an election is held. What bothers some residents of Tokyo is that it costs about ¥5 billion in taxpayer money to hold an election for Tokyo governor, which gives those residents one more reason to resent Ishihara's capriciousness. He was only 19 months into his fourth term when he quit.