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Japan’s new PM
Japan will have a new Prime Minister on October 1st, after the ruling Liberal Democratic Party elected 67 year-old Ishiba Shigeru as its new leader. He succeeds Kishida Fumio who announced in August that he would step down.
Mr Ishiba defeated hawkish security minister Madam Takaichi Sanae; a former prime minister’s son, the reform-minded Koizumi Shinjiro; and six others in party-only polls this week. It has been a highly unusual campaign that saw factions reduced in influence in favor of rank-and-file party members.
Mr Ishiba served as a legislator since the mid-1980s, and also in key defense and party leadership roles. He is known for being out-spoken, and for his support for controversial issues including Japan’s ability – but not necessarily the need – to build nuclear weapons, for Taiwan’s democracy, for same-sex marriage, and for a married woman’s right keep her surname. His strong support for Japan’s self-defense will likely strengthen ties to the United States, albeit on somewhat less senior-junior terms.
Mr Ishiba’s career has been marked by contradiction. He joined politics with support from his father’s old faction leader, Tanaka Kakuei, but later denounced factions. He left and rejoined the LDP, and finally formed his own faction, Sui-getsu-kai (“water moon association”).
Mr Ishiba will be Japan’s ninth Christian prime minister, dating back as far as 1918 when Hara Takashi held the post.
Japan will have a new Prime Minister on October 1st, after the ruling Liberal Democratic Party elected 67 year-old Ishiba Shigeru as its new leader. He succeeds Kishida Fumio who announced in August that he would step down.
Mr Ishiba defeated hawkish security minister Madam Takaichi Sanae; a former prime minister’s son, the reform-minded Koizumi Shinjiro; and six others in party-only polls this week. It has been a highly unusual campaign that saw factions reduced in influence in favor of rank-and-file party members.
Mr Ishiba served as a legislator since the mid-1980s, and also in key defense and party leadership roles. He is known for being out-spoken, and for his support for controversial issues including Japan’s ability – but not necessarily the need – to build nuclear weapons, for Taiwan’s democracy, for same-sex marriage, and for a married woman’s right keep her surname. His strong support for Japan’s self-defense will likely strengthen ties to the United States, albeit on somewhat less senior-junior terms.
Mr Ishiba’s career has been marked by contradiction. He joined politics with support from his father’s old faction leader, Tanaka Kakuei, but later denounced factions. He left and rejoined the LDP, and finally formed his own faction, Sui-getsu-kai (“water moon association”).
Mr Ishiba will be Japan’s ninth Christian prime minister, dating back as far as 1918 when Hara Takashi held the post.