WORLD IN BRIEF : JAPAN : Politician’s Wife Joins Election Race

The wife of a Japanese member of Parliament said she is so fed up with the leadership of her husband’s ruling party that she will run for election on an independent ticket. Makiko Hamada, 47, wife of Takujiro Hamada, a Liberal Democratic member of the lower house, said she has had enough of money politics, which have embroiled the party in its biggest scandal in more than 30 years. The scandal, in which the Recruit Co. communications conglomerate handed out unlisted shares to gain political influence, eventually brought down Prime Minister Noboru Takeshita.