A gubernatorial election was held on 1 September 2002 to elect the next governor of Nagano (石川県, Nagano-ken), a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshu island.
Shu Ichikawa, 50, a board member of a Tokyo-based think tank led by Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara (LDP).
Chozo Nakagawa, 46, former company employee, graduate student at Shinshu University.
Hideyoshi Hashiba, 52, wealthy company owner.
Nobuaki Hanaoka, 56, Sankei Shimbun editorial writer. He gave up after agreeing to support Hasegawa in exchange for Hasegawa's adopting some of his campaign policies, but appear on the electoral ballot.