Japan LDP leadership battle: Fumio Kishida wins and vows a fairer society
Kanako Mita and Sawako Utsumi
Modern Tokyo Times
Fumio Kishida emerged victorious after winning the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) leadership battle. Ordinary members of the LDP had voted in higher numbers for Taro Kono, with Kishida coming second. However, elected LDP politicians voted in higher numbers for Kishida, with Sanae Takaichi coming second. Therefore, the combined votes meant Kishida would face Kono in a runoff – but with Kono only coming third behind Takaichi – the writing was on the wall because Kishida duly became elected the leader of the LDP.
Takaichi surprisingly won more LDP political votes than Kono. Henceforth, despite Takaichi not reaching the runoff stage, her political ambitions have been enhanced.
Before Kishida was elected, he stated, “Without distribution of wealth there won’t be a rise in consumption and demand… there won’t be further growth if the distribution of wealth is lost.”
Modern Tokyo Times, in a past article, said, “Kishida, the former foreign minister, is also known for being more statecraft and pragmatic internationally. Henceforth, nationalist tendencies within the current Foreign Ministry will be contained if Kishida is elected to be the next leader of the LDP.”
After Kishida was elected, he said, “…We need to fight against the coronavirus pandemic with firm resolve. And we’ll need to hammer out an economic package worth several tens of trillions of yen by the year-end. Beyond that, we also need to handle important challenges related to our country’s future. They include adopting a new form of capitalism, realizing a free and open Indo-Pacific and countering a declining birthrate. I will devote myself to tackling these tasks starting today.”
Concerning the coronavirus (Covid-19) crisis, Kishida promises to build temporary hospitals throughout the nation. Therefore, this will be welcomed because many people in Japan couldn’t obtain hospital treatment when coronavirus infections grew dramatically.
It is hoped that Kishida will inject money into sectors that have been hit the hardest during the ongoing coronavirus crisis.
Lee Jay Walker says, “Overall, Kishida promises a fairer society rather than the ‘dog-eat-dog’ society of Junichiro Koizumi.”
PLEASE DONATE TO HELP MODERN TOKYO TIMES
Modern Tokyo News is part of the Modern Tokyo Times group
DONATIONS to SUPPORT MODERN TOKYO TIMES – please pay PayPal and DONATE to sawakoart@gmail.com
http://moderntokyotimes.com Modern Tokyo Times – International News and Japan News
https://www.pinterest.co.uk/moderntokyotimes/ Modern Tokyo Times is now on PINTEREST
http://sawakoart.com – Sawako Utsumi personal website and Modern Tokyo Times artist
https://moderntokyonews.com Modern Tokyo News – Tokyo News and International News
PLEASE JOIN ON TWITTER
https://twitter.com/MTT_News Modern Tokyo Times
PLEASE JOIN ON FACEBOOK
https://www.facebook.com/moderntokyotimes