Yuriko Koike hospitalized for 'severe fatigue' ahead of Tokyo Olympics

June 28 (UPI) -- The governor of Tokyo remains hospitalized ahead of the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics and an election in Japan's capital.

Tokyo's metropolitan government said Sunday that Gov. Yuriko Koike is convalescing after being admitted to a local hospital Tuesday, Kyodo News reported.

Koike, 68, was admitted to the medical center last week for "severe fatigue," according to reports. The governor, one of the few women politicians serving in a leadership position in Japan, has been at the head of the city's response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Koike receives stronger support for her policies than the administration of Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, according to a poll from Asahi Shimbun on Monday.

Koike fell ill ahead of the 2021 Tokyo prefectural election on July 4. The governor's regional Tomin First Party currently holds the greatest number of seats in the Tokyo assembly, but is expected to lose to the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, according to a Kyodo News poll Sunday.

Koike was reelected governor in a landslide in July 2020. In 2017, the governor resigned from the LDP to lead Tomin First, which means "Tokyoites First."

The governor's political maneuvers have made her the target of rival politicians in her old party.

Finance Minister Taro Aso said Friday while campaigning for an LDP candidate that Koike was sick from overwork -- and that the governor had "reaped what she sowed," Yomiuri Shimbun reported.

Aso said Koike was at a disadvantage because her regional party had no representation in the central government, according to Arab News in Japan.

"They were unable to communicate with the government because there were no Diet members representing them," Aso said. "Therefore, the governor does everything herself. She collapsed from overwork. Some people may sympathize with her, but it's Koike herself who established such an organization."

Chiharu Araki, head of Tomin First, condemned Aso last week and accused him of "spitting" on the governor, according to reports.