The ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) will vote on Monday to elect its replacement. Japan is not a presidential system – the country’s leader is chosen by parliamentarians, so the next LDP leader, whoever he is, should have an easy way to become prime minister.
Former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida and former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba are also running. If Suga is selected, it will mark the pinnacle of an unreliable and unlikely political career for the 72-year-old.
Suga and Abe’s careers have been tied for almost a decade since they became prime minister in 2012. Abe has become the country’s longest-serving leader since the end of World War II.
Suga was the right-hand man all the time, serving as the Cabinet Secretary to the Prime Minister, akin to the Chief of Staff and the Press Secretary.
But the two could not be more different than stylistic. Abe is a charismatic descendant of one of Japan’s most famous political dynasties, an important asset in the party’s political system that values genealogy. His father was foreign minister, and he is related to two former prime ministers.
Suga is the farmer’s son, and he is known as a practical, behind-the-scenes bargain maker. He grew up in rural Akita prefecture, and moved to Tokyo after high school. He then worked a series of odd jobs – one at a cardboard factory and the other at the legendary Tsusiji Fish Market – to save money for the university, in which he went to attend part-time while working.
Suga quickly graduated, punishing the world of Japanese salary men after graduation, but he could not survive. Politics was what shaped and influenced the world, and he wanted to do it.
So he decided to run for city council in Yokohama. Although he lacked connections and political experience, he worked hard for it. He is a member of the LDP. According to, about 300 houses were visited every day and a total of 30,000 houses were visited. He was wearing six pairs of shoes by the time the election went round.
Suga’s rap has changed a bit since that campaign. Today he is known as a successful political operator who can be trusted to do things – the qualities that made him an excellent right-handed man in Abe.
He was a key ally in the prime minister’s efforts to introduce a series of economic policies known as “ebenomics” – fiscal stimulus, increased government spending, and structural reforms aimed at boosting Japan’s stable economy.
Suga is expected to become “something out of Abe’s substitute” if he is chosen to be prime minister, said Kazuto Suzuki, vice dean of Hokkaido University and professor of international politics.
Suzuki said potential LDP members were trying to boost Abe’s popularity soon after he announced his resignation; Abe’s approval rating was already moving south. Prior to the announcement of Abe’s resignation, a poll conducted by Manichi, one of Japan’s largest newspapers, found that 58.4% of those surveyed were dissatisfied with the control of his epidemic. And its approval rating dropped to 36%, the lowest since 2012.
Brad Glosserman, an expert on Japanese politics, said Suga has not yet shown that “it is in any way a real departure from the Abe Line or the mainstream of the LDP in general.”
“He’s got a very good story … he’s a very self-made man. However, the question is whether he has a degree by which he can get a personality,” said Glosserman, author of Peak Japan. The end of great ambitions. ”
Despite big issues such as government debt and old age, large-scale work and Abe’s public demand for reform for gender equality in the workplace, critics say he has not managed to address the country’s gender gap or address issues that make women big. Prevents participation. In economics and politics.
As chief cabinet secretary, Suga was widely seen as a successful spokesman because he was able to communicate the message or his boss without shadow. But the same skills can prove a problem in a top job, with rhetoric and charisma being important characteristics for getting the message across to people.
“No one really knows who this man is. He’s a behind-the-scenes laborer,” Glosserman said of Suga. “He has not yet developed before the Japanese public and presented an image that he will rally behind and support.”
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