The country’s leadership race kicked off with a record nine candidates including the surfing son of a former prime minister and an arch-nationalist vying to be the first woman premier.
Whoever wins the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) leadership vote on Sept 27 will succeed unpopular Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, whose three-year term was tarnished by scandals and unease over rising prices.
The contest comes as Japan beefs up defence spending and cooperation with fellow US allies to counter China and as the world’s fourth largest economy struggles with a slow-burn demographic crisis.
LDP has governed almost uninterrupted for decades and holds a majority in parliament, meaning the winner is essentially guaranteed to become premier.
Leading the polls are Shinjiro Koizumi, 43, a former environment minister and the son of ex-premier Junichiro Koizumi, and veteran former defence minister Shigeru Ishiba, 67.
“I want to change the politics of Japan, left behind by the changing times,” Koizumi said as the candidates each made a campaign speech at the LDP headquarters yesterday.
His pledges include labour market deregulation, making political funds more transparent, and to “settle issues that have been debated for years” such as allowing married couples to have separate surnames.
Meanwhile Ishiba, highlighting regional tensions, referred to North Korea’s ballistic missile test yesterday morning.
“They are not doing this as a joke,” he said, arguing of the need to build an organisation like Nato in East Asia.
Also in the running are two prominent women – still a rarity in Japanese politics and business.
Hard-right Sanae Takaichi, 63, is a regular visitor to the Yasukuni shrine to Japan’s war dead – including those convicted for war crimes committed during Japan’s occupation of China and Korea.
Japan’s economic security minister, Takaichi promised to “make the LDP a party that the Japanese people can believe in”.
And although her support within the party is limited, Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa, 71, is seen as a deft leader who aspires to mentor younger female politicians.
Outspoken reformist Taro Kono, 61, is also a candidate, as is Toshimitsu Motegi, dubbed the “Trump whisperer” for his handling of the former US president in tough trade talks.
Others include chief Cabinet secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi and former economic security minister Takayuki Kobayashi, the only other candidate under 50 along with Koizumi. — AFP
