TOKYO – There are a few real surprises in Japanese politics, but Yoshihide Suga’s intention to become the next prime minister was not exactly the same as before.
Mr. Suga, the son of a strawberry farmer and a schoolteacher in northern Japan, is not from a select political family but one of the few Japanese legislators. Charisma is not the first – or even the second or third word – originated from her public personality. At1, he is even older than Shinzo Abe, who abruptly announced in late August that he was resigning as prime minister due to ill health.
What Mr. Abe’s longtime Chief Minister’s Cabinet Secretary, Mr. Suga, has to offer is consistent. He vowed to pick up where Mr Abe had bid farewell, a gesture that reassured the country after a string of revolving door prime ministers. And in Japan, where stability often transcends ideology, Mr. Suga appealed to a traditionally bound political establishment that resists change.
On Monday, Mr Suga launched elections for the leadership of the Rs 100 crore Liberal Democratic Party – which ruled Japan for four years apart from World War II – and assured him of the PM’s job.
With his decisive victory in an initially seemingly open party contest, Mr. Suga demonstrated respectable political skills as an behind-the-scenes operator, serving as Mr. Abe’s staff chief and chief government spokesman for nearly eight years.
“How quickly the debate turned to Suga,” said Miraya Solis, director of the Center for East Asia Policy Studies at the Brookings Institution in Washington.
But his role as a shadow in Japanese politics has given him a little cipher.
In many ways, it looks like someone else in the long line of sour Japanese politicians. The most exciting nugget to come out in recent news reports is the revelation that Mr. Suga, a tattooist with a sweet tooth, starts and ends with 100 situps per day. On his website he says he loves river fishing and karate.
More precisely, it is difficult for Japan to understand Mr. Suga’s vision, or whether it can bring fresh solutions to the country’s deepest challenges.
“Politicians in general have a tendency to express minimalist ideals,” said Magumi Nao, an associate professor of political science at the University of California, San Diego. Want to see. ”
Despite nearly a quarter century in national politics, Mr. Suga “has not really come out with very strong policies,” Ms. Naoi said.
Reflecting on his years as Mr. Abe’s loyal adviser, Mr. Suga, who declined the request for an interview, has promised to pursue some of the departing prime minister’s most ambitious goals. It is expected to continue to push for the reform of Japan’s peaceful constitution and the return of Japanese nationals abducted by North Korea.
He also said he would stick to Mr Abe’s signature economic formula, known as ebenomics, combining simple monetary policy, government spending and structural reform of industries such as agriculture.
When Mr Suga signaled last week a small sign of setting a new policy – a possible increase in taxes that hampered consumer spending – he quickly knocked.
With the global upheaval from the coronavirus epidemic in Asia and the growing geopolitical threats, a successor who has taken this course may be in line with Japan’s needs.
Christina L., director of the U.S.-Japan Relations Program at Harvard. “Japan is not a country with radical reform,” Davis said. “Stable can be an asset seen as a crisis manager, especially in times of crisis and uncertainty.”
As he observes the status quo, Mr. Suga has also been a catalyst for significant change. Mr Abe is credited with helping push through controversial security laws that allow Japanese troops to join allies as well as foreign combat missions. Mr. Suga was also seen as a strong proponent of a bill passed two years ago, which led to a sharp increase in the number of foreign workers allowed in Japan.
Another glimpse of his political hand has raised concerns. Some critics say Mr. Abe was the architect behind some of Mr. Abe’s more authoritarian influences, using tactics to consolidate his power over Mr. Japan’s extensive bureaucracy and silence criticism in the news media.
“I think Mr. Suga is more dangerous than Mr. Abe,” Kia Mikawa, the former deputy education minister, told The Sunday Manichi in a weekly magazine.
Mr Suga, as prime minister, predicted Mr McVeigh would “become bureaucrats or act like a private army”, under the PM’s office, “worse than the Abe era.”
One big question is how long Mr. Suga will last. Whether he concludes a career leader or stays after the general election depends on his response to immediate challenges such as potential epidemics, the postponed Tokyo Olympics and growing tensions with China.
There are rumors that Mr Suga may call a snap election soon after taking over as Prime Minister. If successful, it could strengthen its popularity. If not, “maybe this is just an interim leader,” said Ken Hijino, a law professor at Kyoto University.
For now, people support Mr Suga, with more than 0 per cent of those polled in last week’s national polls supporting him as prime minister.
While Japanese voters see Mr. Suga and Mr. Abe as something of a pair, their family backgrounds can hardly be different. Mr. Abe is a third-generation politician and grandson of the Prime Minister; Mr. Suga grew up remarkably in rural Akita province with two older sisters and a younger brother.
“He was so quiet that no one noticed him,” said Hiroshi Kawai, a high school classmate who now works as a tour guide in Yuzawa City, Mr. Suga’s hometown.
Mr Kawai said in a telephone interview that ‘we have sayings like‘ great talent is slow to mature ’and‘ a clever eagle hides it. “Now, I realize that those words were made for Mr. Suga.”
According to Iso Mori’s biography, Mr. Suga’s father suggested that he work on the family farm, but Mr. Suga decided to move to Tokyo. He took fantastic jobs, first with a cardboard company and then before he enrolled at Hosie University, driving a ferry truck to the old Susuji fish market.
When he decided to make politics, absent family connections, he asked the Career Services Center for a Member of Parliament presentation.
In 1975, Mr. Suga took over as secretary of Hikosaburo Okonogi, a member of the House of Representatives in Yokohama, Japan’s second largest city. Mr Suga’s duties included a cigarette and a parking car.
He also quickly learned how to complete the constituency. At Mr. Suga’s marriage to his wife, Marico, in 1980, according to the biography of Mr. Orinogi’s supporter, Mr. Morini, he bought shoes for Mr. Suga because he visited them and went from house to house “quickly wearing them.” Voters in the district.
Suga had three sons, but in a discussion last week Mr Suga admitted that they were rarely at home when they grew up.
In 1987, he ran for a city council meeting in Yokohama, where he became known as the “shadow” mayor of Yokohama. He helped develop transport links at the port and pushed for lower waiting lists at city daily care centers.
“He has four eyes and four ears,” Kochi Fujishiro, a former chairman of Yokohama City Council, said in a telephone interview. “He worked from morning till late at night.”
In 1996, Mr. Suga jumped into national politics by winning a seat in the lower house of Parliament. During Mr. Abe’s first term as Prime Minister, during the turmoil, from 2006 to 2007, Mr. Suga served as Minister of Internal Affairs and Telecommunications. Mr Suga remained loyal even after Mr Abe resigned following a series of scandals.
Mr Abe reciprocated that loyalty when he returned as prime minister in 2012, choosing Mr Suga as his chief cabinet secretary. According to Kenya Matsuda, author of “Shadow Power: Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihid Suga”, Mr. Suga urged Mr. Abe to focus on the economy rather than the nationalist agenda, which he spent his first term in.
Last year Mr. Suga took some steps to get out of the shadows. When the government officially announced the name of the new era in view of the throne of Emperor Naruhito, Mr. Suga dramatically introduced the calligraphy of the name Reva, which earned him the blessed “Uncle Reva”.
Mr. Suga has also struck a chord with his brain, a system that allows citizens to donate money to local governments in exchange for locally received gifts. However, many small-town governments have lost money by spending more on gifts such as marble wagyu beef or shipments of fresh lobsters than collected in donations.
On foreign policy, Mr. Suga has worked to fill holes in his portfolio. He visited Washington last year, the first chief cabinet secretary to make such a trip in three decades.
Personal diplomacy with President Trump has been crucial for Mr. Abe. If Mr. Trump wins the re-election, the question is, Ms. of the Brookings Institution. “Could Suga do the magic work, or was it a pimp between Trump and Abe that won’t happen again,” Solis said.
Hikari Hida and Hisako Uno contributed to the report.
