Women fight Tokyo election in male-dominated Japan

Tokyo residents vote Sunday to elect a new governor for the Japanese capital with incumbent Yuriko Koike challenged by opposition figure Renho, two prominent women in the country's male-dominated political sphere.

Japan has never had a woman prime minister and a large majority of lawmakers are men, but Tokyo, accounting for a tenth of the national population and a fifth of the economy, has been run since 2016 by former television anchor Koike, 71.

While few now tout the former defence and environment minister as a possible future prime minister, as many once did, polls suggest that the media-savvy conservative will win a third straight term in the metropolis of 14 million people.