Ishiba Shigeru will become Japan’s new Prime Minister after winning the presidency of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in a vote by members of the legislative party and members on Friday afternoon.
A former defense minister who won the LDP leadership in his fifth bid—which he called his “last fight”—Ishiba, 67, emerged victorious from a nine-person field with promises to revitalize rural areas and bring back society. confidence after a series of scandals led to the resignation of outgoing Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. Ishiba will take the country’s top job on October 1 following a rubber-stamp parliamentary vote.
“Prime Minister Kishida made the decision to reborn the LDP and regain public trust,” Ishiba said in his victory speech. “We must all come together to answer this.”
Ishiba’s leadership of the East Asian nation of 125 million has implications for global security given the more prominent role of Japan and the US in checking China’s assertiveness in the Asia-Pacific. Under the outgoing Kishida, who announced he would not seek re-election last month amid waning popularity, Japan has boosted defense spending and healed historical wounds with South Korea, another important part of the US state.
A native of Tokyo, Ishiba has both establishment and renegade credentials. He worked briefly in banking before he started his political career following the death of his father who was also a legislator and member of the cabinet. He appears to be far from an opposition party centered on the late Shinzo Abe, Japan’s longest-serving prime minister who will be assassinated in 2022, and has reportedly turned down many positions under him.
That distance was probably the key to Ishiba’s victory. LDP elders saw the need for change following public disagreements over Abe’s party’s relationship with the controversial Unification Church and the misuse of political funds. “Distrust grew in Kishida’s administration because he did not really deal with the LDP party’s financial scandals,” said Mieko Nakabayashi, a professor at Tokyo’s Waseda University and a former Japanese lawyer.
Ishiba’s reputation was strengthened by his outspokenness about the need to properly investigate any corruption and reforms to restore public confidence. Having previously served as minister of agriculture and minister of rural renewal, Ishiba’s economic agenda focused on revitalizing Japan’s outlying regions.
Jeff Kingston, director of Asian studies at Tokyo’s Temple University, says: “He’s very honest as a person who understands people’s pain. “But he’s a straight talker, and many of his colleagues agree with this. So he can appear arrogant and look down on other lawmakers.”
As a result, it is perhaps not surprising that Ishiba’s support lay more with the broader LDP membership than with other lawmakers, many of whom still consider him a traitor for switching parties for several years in the 1990s. He has also become very popular with the main opposition and has been known to answer questions on a variety of issues based on public opinion, including nuclear power and whether a woman can serve as Governor.
“There are many cases where he has changed his stance, so he is sometimes seen as a weak leader who doesn’t really have strong principles,” said Hosoya Yuichi, a professor of international politics at Keio University in Tokyo. “But at the same time, he is considered an experienced and reliable politician.”
Ishiba is one of only two leaders who do not speak English—amazingly, four of the nine are Harvard-educated—and is considered more selective than her two closest rivals, who would be Japan’s youngest or first female leader. (The latter, Economic Security Minister Sanae Takaichi, was ahead in the first round vote but lost to Ishiba in the run-off.)
However, Ishiba also has a different maverick streak. He is one of the few LDP politicians to admit Japan’s mistakes in its 1910-45 rule of Korea, promising warm relations with Seoul, although he has publicly called for the creation of an Asian version of NATO, which could put him in danger. study with Beijing.
In terms of US relations, Ishiba alarmed others by calling for an overhaul of the defense system, with Japan taking more control and responsibility for its own security. He has a reputation as a defense stalwart who likes to build and paint model airplanes and ships, which are reportedly lined on the walls of his office, and has expressed support for Japan developing its own nuclear deterrent. However, he is unlikely to stray far from US-led orthodoxy. US Ambassador Rahm Emanuel congratulated Ishiba in a post on X and said he looked forward to working with him to “cultivate closer relations” with the US-Japan.
“We will put our hearts into protecting Japan, local areas, laws and the Japanese people,” Ishiba said on Friday.
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