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Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga (right) and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe after Suga was elected as the new leader of the ruling PLD Party, paving the way for him to replace Abe as prime minister. REUTERS
The results of the September 14 vote show that Suga was elected leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), meaning he will succeed Prime Minister Abe Shinzo, who resigned for health reasons. .
Observers are not surprised by this result, because Suga has been famous as the powerful aide to Prime Minister Abe for almost 10 years. Now when Mr. Abe is unable to continue his work, once again a trustworthy person and diligent friend, Suga will continue to deal with the problems facing Japan.
For those who have watched Suga for a long time, those issues are difficult, but not unfamiliar to the 71-year-old politician.
Example of energy and lifestyle
When he was elected prime minister for the second time in 2012 (the first time was in 2007), Abe made the public admire the “beautiful CV”: the nephew of a former Japanese prime minister, son of a former foreign minister.
A friend of Mr. Suga pointed to a photo from his childhood with his family in Yuzawa, Akita prefecture. Mr. Suga’s family is not poor, but neither is it abundant. In particular, heavy snowfall in the Akita area makes it difficult for Mr. Suga to go to school – Photo: REUTERS
But “scratching hard” at Mr. Abe 8 years ago is not a “cardboard son”. Mr. Suga was born on December 6, 1948 to a strawberry farming family in the Akinomiya Agricultural Area, Akita Prefecture in northern Japan.
By going to college, Mr. Suga pays his own expenses for studying and living, and earns enough jobs to earn a living. When it comes to deciding to go into politics, your luggage is also plump zero: no relationship, no political experience.
The biggest impression Mr. Suga made in the public eye was his energy and lifestyle. Bed sheet Hour (USA) cited Mr. Suga in detail as a workaholic, paying particular attention to detail. He’s also known for his health care, he doesn’t touch alcohol, and he still does it 100 times a day. A childhood friend of Mr. Suga also told the newspaper Wall street journal that when he was young, Suga was a sumo talent!
There is a story of the PLD that went door to door in a campaign, one day to 300 houses, to meet a total of 30,000 people. By the time of the election that year, he had worn all … 6 pairs of shoes.
Silent hero
Mr. Suga’s hard work gave the impression that he was a worker in politics. Hour He remarked that he was more skilled, a technocrat than a model strategist or prominent visionary.
But this does not change the fact that Mr. Suga played a leading role in promoting the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP, later CPTPP), especially in the context of the United States’ withdrawal from the agreement. It was from President Donald Trump. This is just one of the many jobs that Mr. Suga “shines” behind the scenes.
The Professor of Japanese Studies at Temple University (Tokyo), Mr. Jeffrey Kingston, briefly commented: “Suga is the reason why Mr. Abe has been in power for so long.”
Mr. Masashi Yuri, Mr. Suga’s classmate, pointed to a photo of Mr. Suga (front row, right) and his teenage baseball team. Mr. Suga couldn’t afford to play on a baseball team in college and had to work part-time to cover living expenses in Tokyo, including working as a “vegetable hauler” at the giant seafood market. Tsukiji – Photo: REUTERS
Accept the challenge
With such experience, Mr. Suga seems to be used to challenges, although he will replace him here. Abe who leads Japan is facing many urgent problems, from the COVID-19 pandemic to employment and foreign affairs …
Please note that Mr. Suga’s chief of staff position equates to … three positions and duties in the United States government: Vice President, Chief Communications Officer, and White House Chief of Staff.
Suga’s success in “saving” the TPP and in negotiating the Japan-EU free trade agreement shows that his work as the leader of the LDP and on the verge of becoming prime minister of Japan is not a blessing. A step forward. “
Suga’s first challenge will be to make an immediate decision on the Japanese general elections, scheduled for October 2021. He will have to choose between continuing as interim prime minister until then or taking advantage of the current chaos of opposition parties to hold snap elections.
During his discussion with Kyodo News Agency on September 6, Mr. Suga stated that “the next administration should not be an interim government.”
