Flamboyant former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi says he’ll carry on with his campaign for a zero-nuclear Japan despite the loss of an anti-nuclear candidate in the election for Tokyo governor.

Koizumi, who was prime minister from 2001 to 2006, was a key backer of anti-nuclear candidate Morihiro Hosokawa.

A day after Sunday’s election, Koizumi told NTV that a zero-nuclear Japan was still important.

He said he would continue to speak on the topic.

But Koizumi said he would stay out of politics.

He said there was a difference between what he could accomplish now and when he was prime minister.

Analysts say the defeat of the antinuclear candidate points to Koizumi’s loss of influence within Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party.