Japan’s Prime Minister-designate Kishida: One who wants to listen

With Fumio Kishida, an experienced foreign politician is preparing to become Japan’s new prime minister. He presents himself as a reformer who wants to do a lot differently than his predecessor. Above all, he wants to listen.

Fumio Kishida is announced as the election winner – making the 64-year-old the new chairman of Japan’s Liberal Democrats. “Many in the population were suspicious of politics. They no longer believed in politics,” says the newly elected party leader. “I felt that Japanese democracy was in crisis.” Because of this awareness of the crisis, he ran for office.

Kishida wants to change something, he has made this clear again and again in recent years – and sharply criticized the government under ex-Prime Minister Shinzo Abe: “That the Liberal Democrats continue to deal with the opposition and the people in a condescending manner, that will the party will eventually cost the people’s trust, “he said four years ago. “It will then no longer be possible to have a proper policy.”

Notebooks full of citizen notices

A warning addressed directly to the address of his party friend: Kishida has long rejected Abe’s neoliberal economic policy. Kishida belongs to the faction of the doves, i.e. the moderates, within the Liberal Democrats who oppose the Abe supporters, known as hawks. Abe’s economic policy has led to growing inequality, and Japan’s middle class in particular is suffering as a result.

As the new chairman, Kishida will most likely become Japan’s next prime minister. He could be elected by parliament on Monday. If he is responsible, he wants to listen to people more closely, he said recently – another swipe at his predecessors.

“I’ve filled up almost 30 notebooks in the last ten years. They contain important things people have told me,” he said. “I listen carefully to them and I will risk my political life to come up with a new policy.”

Coined by Hiroshima

Part of this new economic policy should also include extensive financial aid that will help the Japanese economy, which has been ravaged by the corona, back on its feet: “We should quickly put together an economic stimulus package worth several trillion yen and get it off the ground that does not target a specific industry or sector Region limited and, depending on the size of the company, can last until next spring, “he announced.

Japan’s likely next prime minister is also a seasoned foreign policy maker. He was Foreign Minister for almost five years from 2012 – longer than any other in post-war Japan. In 2017 he was also Minister of Defense.

Kishida comes from Hiroshima and his family is one of those who suffered from the long-term effects long after the atomic bomb was dropped in August 1945: some of his relatives died as a result. Five years ago he was Secretary of State with then US President Barack Obama in Hiroshima. He led him through the Peace Park and explained the central monument, the atomic bomb dome, to him. It is only logical that he stands for the abolition of nuclear weapons.