Grand-Daughter of former PM Hideki Tojo To Run For Diet Seat

The Sankei Shinbun has reported that the grand-daughter of wartime prime minister (and convicted war criminal) Hideki Tojo is seeking political office:

On the 7th it was learned that grand-daughter of former PM Hideki Tojo, Yuko Tojo (67) has decided to run for an office in the House of Councilors, the upper house of the Japanese Diet this summer. It is expected that she will run as an independent from the Tokyo voting district.

According to Wikipedia, Yuko Tojo is “a right-wing activist who claimed Japan’s was a war of self-defense and that it was “unfair” that her grandfather was judged a Class-A war criminal.”

More details can be found at Neverland (the source of this translation).

Update: The story has since been picked up by Kyodo News:

A granddaughter of Gen. Hideki Tojo, Japan’s wartime prime minister who was hanged as a Class-A war criminal after World War II, revealed her plan Monday to run in the House of Councillors in July.

Yuko Tojo, 67, pledged to work to realize the enshrinement of all of Japan’s military war dead at Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo.

Her grandfather is one of the 14 Class-A war criminals honored at the Shinto shrine, the source of a diplomatic row with China and South Korea.

Tojo, who heads a nonprofit organization working on environment conservation, said she envisions running either in the Tokyo constituency as an independent or under the proportional representation system if she can obtain the backing of a political party.