Updated: September 14, 2020 7:06:15 pm
Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga will be the country’s next prime minister (REUTERS / Kim Kyung-Hoon / File photo)
Last month, Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the country’s longest-serving leader, resigned from office for health reasons. On Monday, Japan’s longest-serving chief of staff secretary Yoshihide Suga was elected chairman of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), securing his place as Abe’s successor. Suga will be formally appointed as the new prime minister on September 16.
Once he takes over formally, Suga will serve Abe’s remaining term as party head until September 2021.
Who is Yoshihide Suga?
Born in 1948 to a strawberry farmer and school teacher in rural Japan, Suga helped in the fields as a child and enrolled in Hosei University in 1969. Suga is described in various media reports as Abe’s “right hand” and was widely seen as his successor. What distinguishes him from various Japanese leaders is his image as a self-made man who does not belong to an elite political family or dynasty. Abe, on the other hand, is a third-generation politician and the grandson of a former prime minister.
While during his student days, Suga showed little interest in student protests against the Japan-U.S. Security alliance and the Vietnam War, he gradually became interested in politics and successfully ran for the assembly of Yokohama city in 1987 and entered national politics. in 1996.
According to a report by The Mainichi, Suga was relatively unknown until April 2019, when he unveiled the name of the new imperial era that earned him the nickname “Uncle Reiwa.” On May 1, 2019, Japan entered a new era after Emperor Akihito resigned to make way for his son, Naruhito. At the time, Abe had said, “The meaning behind Reiwa’s name is that culture is born and nurtured when people’s hearts wonderfully unite.”
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In an interview Suga gave the Japan Times last Saturday, he said he hoped to amend Japan’s Constitution, which has not been amended since it came into force in 1947 and was one of Abe’s long-standing goals. Suga also mentioned other campaign promises that include protecting people’s jobs and livelihoods, defending Japan’s national interests, and focusing on the Japan-U.S. Alliance as the foundation of the country’s security foundation, online. with Abe’s vision.
Suga has also promised to continue the economic policy of his predecessor “Abenomics” which focused on Japan’s economic revival and combined structural reform, monetary easing and fiscal expansion, with the aim of increasing domestic demand.
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