LDP rides Koizumi's coattails.

After the votes had been counted, it seemed that Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi probably had the biggest influence on the outcome of Sunday's Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly election. The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) managed to stage a dramatic comeback by riding on his coattails while the rival Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) only mustered incremental gains because it failed to attract crucial unaffiliated voters.

Komeito managed to retain all 23 of its seats, but the Japanese Communist Party (JCP), which had made huge strides in the previous election to become the second-largest party in the Tokyo assembly, suffered a major setback. The Social Democratic Party and …