Setback for Kishida in by-election sharpens focus on Japan's looming vote

An election campaign staff member holds leaflets of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party with cover photos of Japan's Prime Minister and the party's president Fumio Kishida, as he distributes these to voters during an election campaign on the first day of campaigning for the upcoming lower house election, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in Tokyo, Japan October 19, 2021. REUTERS/Issei Kato

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida suffered an unexpected blow a week before his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) heads into a national vote, as the loss of a closely watched by-election focused attention on his flagging support a month into the job.

Kishida has called for a "new capitalism" that would tackle inequality and promised to roll back some of the "Abenomics" policies of his former boss, Shinzo Abe.