Tojo's Granddaughter Campaigns in Japan

Yuko Tojo speaks during an interview with the Associated Press as she sits next to her campaign poster for the upcoming Upper House election at her election office in Tokyo Monday, June 4, 2007. Every morning for the last three months, Yuko Tojo has prayed at a controversial war shrine for Japan's fallen soldiers, including her grandfather, Gen. Hideki Tojo, the executed World War II premier who ordered the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara) (Koji Sasahara - AP)

"I support her ideals," said Hiroshi Watase, 70, a retiree. "But I'm not sure whether she would be the best person to become a politician," he added, citing her lack of experience.

Abe also has pushed for Japan to be more assertive in its foreign policy and backed changes to the constitution to give the military a larger global role. In addition, his ruling Liberal Democratic Party pushed through a law in December requiring schools to teach patriotism.

But Abe _ himself a grandson of an imprisoned war criminal _ has not backed Tojo in the July 22 vote, and LDP officials say they have no interest in working with her.

That isolation could cost her at the polls.

"Tojo's nationalistic attitude might appeal to certain elements of the population, but most Japanese do not sympathize with her views. She has no chance at all at the elections," political commentator Minoru Morita said.

Tojo, however, said her decision to run reflects a personal mission, as well as a political one. One of her top priorities is to publicly urge Abe to pay his respects to her grandfather and others at the Yasukuni war shrine, which is vilified by China and South Korea as a reminder of Japan's militaristic past.

Abe's predecessor, Junichiro Koizumi, repeatedly prayed at the shrine. But Abe, eager to mend ties with Japan's neighbors, has kept away.

"In Japan, there are no war criminals," Tojo insists. "Every one of those enshrined at Yasukuni died fighting for their country, and we should honor them."