'Change Tokyo, Change Japan'

It is 6 a.m. in front of the railroad station in Musashi-Sakai, a western suburb of Tokyo, and Reiko Matsushita is already up and campaigning. She stands in front of the station entrance buttonholing commuters as they head for the trains to go to work.

For the next three hours, she will bow and repeat her name over and over again, while her campaign supp…