The big names in the race for Japan's prime minister post – Firstpost

Japan's Fumio Kishida is on the verge of being eliminated. He has decided not to run for a second term. So who could become the country's next prime minister?

As Kishida's three-year term ends at the end of September, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) will elect a new president who will become the next prime minister in the ruling party-controlled parliament.

On Thursday, the LDP unveiled nine candidates who will run in the Sept. 27 election. Shinjiro Koizumi, 43, is the youngest and also one of the favorites. The others include a hardliner who hopes to become the country's first female prime minister, a defense freak and the “Trump whisperer.”

Here's a look at the nine names who have their eyes on the top job in Japan.

Shinjiro Koizumi

At 43, Shinjiro Koizumi is the youngest candidate. He is the son of former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and heir to a political dynasty that ruled Japan for over a century.

Media-savvy and photogenic, he is favored by young voters and women in media polls. The scion promises to be a reformer who will work to restore public confidence in the LDP, which has been mired in controversy and scandal.

Koizumi assured the public that he would accelerate Kishida’s policies to promote dynamic economic growth that can adapt to technological change, including the rise of artificial intelligence, reports ReutersHe said he would work on a new economic package to help small businesses and low-income households suffering from rising living costs.

He supports legislation allowing women to keep their maiden names and wants to allow women to become empresses, despite opposition from many LDP lawmakers. He also supports a revision of the Japanese constitution that rejects war.

Last week he said that if he were elected leader of the ruling party, he would call new elections at the “earliest possible moment”.

Koizumi was Japan's environment minister and during his time in office he pushed for greater use of renewable energy. During his time in office he also took paternity leave as he wants to share parenting duties with his wife, a television presenter.

And although he is the most popular candidate in opinion polls, he may not be the first choice of LDP elders, who likely view him as too young and too insignificant for the post of prime minister.

Koizumi, the Columbia University-educated lawmaker, is known for his love of surfing.

Shigeru Ishiba

Shigeru Ishiba is the second most popular candidate for the post, according to a poll conducted by the Nikkei newspaper on August 21-22. The former defense minister is popular with voters but less so with LDP lawmakers, which led him to unsuccessfully try four times to become party leader, reports AFP.

The 67-year-old has questioned the Bank of Japan's idiosyncratic interest rate policy while calling for action to combat rural exodus. His economic strategy includes wage increases to counter rising prices and possibly exempting some goods from Japan's 10 percent sales tax to help low-income citizens.

Ishiba is the only party candidate who calls for a shift away from nuclear power and towards renewable energy such as geothermal energy. He also supports a law that would allow women to be empresses.

He has also proposed setting up a disaster prevention agency to build emergency shelters and wants to improve conditions for military personnel to ensure that ageing Japan has enough troops for its defense, reports Reuters.

He is the son of a former prefectural governor and cabinet minister. He enjoys building military models and models of trains and 1970s pop idols. He is one of the few Christians in a country dominated by Buddhism and Shintoism.

Sanae Takaichi

Sanae Takaichi is a staunch nationalist popular with the conservative wing of the LDP who currently serves as the country's economy minister. This is her second attempt at the top job – she ran against Kishida in 2021.

The right-wing politician was close to the murdered former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, whose supporters are still powerful, reports AFP.

Takaichi, 63, regularly visits the Yasukuni Shrine, which honors Japan's war dead – including convicted war criminals – so her nomination would likely anger China and South Korea. She supports aggressive monetary policy, active government spending and nuclear power.

Takaichi said she would prioritize economic growth to boost Japan's international standing, while using “strategic spending” to boost employment and consumer sentiment. Although she is bidding to become the country's first female prime minister, she opposes allowing women to keep their maiden names, saying it would undermine tradition.

Her hero is Margaret Thatcher, the former British Prime Minister, and she played drums in a heavy metal student band.

Taro Kono

Taro Kono is the current minister for digital transformation. He also lost to Kishida in the last race for party leadership.

The 61-year-old is an experienced and outspoken reformer. His views are rather liberal by LDP standards.

Kono has served as Japan's foreign and defense minister. A third-generation LDP lawmaker, he believes his connections would give him an advantage in dealing with Washington, regardless of the outcome of the U.S. presidential election. He has promised to reform labor markets to improve wages and working conditions for millions of part-time workers and help people retrain for higher-paying jobs.

Thirteen years after the Fukushima disaster, he has softened his opposition to nuclear power to meet growing energy needs, including those of AI data centers, reports AFP.

During the election campaign, he attracted attention with his proposal that Japan should use nuclear submarines to guard the maritime bottlenecks in the waters surrounding the country.

Kono is popular on social media with 2.5 million followers on X.
Yoko Kamikawa

Yoko Kamikawa is the second woman, alongside Takaichi, to run for the post. The Harvard-educated former adviser is currently Foreign Minister.

During his tenure as justice minister, Kamikawa ordered 16 executions, including that of the leader of the doomsday cult Aum, which was responsible for the sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway in 1995. As a top diplomat, the 71-year-old has received much praise, including for his visit to Kyiv.

However, she reportedly had difficulty obtaining the support needed to run, AFP.

Toshimitsu Motegi

Toshimitsu Motegi is fluent in English and has been dubbed the “Trump whisperer” for his deft handling of the sensitive US-Japan trade talks. But the 68-year-old is reportedly feared for his irritability. Even Trump is said to have told Abe that he thought Motegi was “too tough.”

The Harvard-educated LDP secretary general was Japan's economics and foreign minister and is valued for his political knowledge. He was Abe's former golf partner.

The Others

Others involved in the dispute include former Foreign Minister and current Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi, former Health Minister Katsunobu Kato and former Economic Security Minister Takayuki Kobayashi.

While some are considered favorites, surprises are possible. The race is more open this time after most LDP factions were dissolved in the wake of a funding scandal.

With contributions from agencies