WWII leader's kin to run for election

The granddaughter of wartime Prime Minister Hideki Tojo, who was executed for crimes against humanity, said she would run for a parliamentary seat in July to "restore the honor" of those who gave their lives for Japan.

Tojo, prime minister from 1941 to 1944, unleashed a savage war on Japan's neighbors and ordered the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor that plunged the United States into World War II.

Yuko Tojo, 67, said she would run as an independent from the Tokyo constituency for the legislature's upper house.

In a separate statement, Tojo called for a national debate on punitive postwar treaties imposed on Japan.