However, "what he really, really stands for is a little bit unclear. He "shares the same policy core" as Suga and his predecessor Shinzo Abe, said Corey Wallace, an assistant professor at Kanagawa University who focuses on Japanese politics. He studied instead at Waseda, a prestigious private university in the capital that he reportedly chose for its serious, unpretentious atmosphere.Īs prime minister, the father-of-three is generally expected to hew to Japan's existing path on defence, foreign and economic policy. Kishida is a big fan of the Hiroshima Carp baseball team, and is said to enjoy a drink, while his wife hails from a wealthy sake-brewing family.Īt school he was a keen baseball player himself, but failed three times to pass the law entrance exam for Tokyo University, much to his parents' disappointment. it's very clear that the LDP is not very positive towards reforms of Japan in a more progressive direction," Mori said.įollowing in the footsteps of his father and grandfather, Kishida entered politics in 1993, after working at a bank as the Japanese economy boomed.Īs a child, his family lived for several years in New York where he suffered racism at school, an experience he reportedly says gave him a strong sense of justice. Kishida has pledged to unleash economic relief measures worth tens of trillions of yen Photo: AFP / Philip FONG "Prime minister Kishida has not always been very clear about what he wants to do in terms of macroeconomic policy," Kenneth Mori McElwain, a social science professor at the University of Tokyo, said at a briefing this week. He has also taken a cautious line on allowing married couples to keep separate surnames, another controversial issue. He has called abolishing nuclear weapons "my life's work", and in 2016 helped bring then-US president Barack Obama to Hiroshima on a historic visit.īut despite his liberal reputation, he has been reticent on some social hot-button issues like gay marriage, saying he had "not reached the point for accepting same-sex marriage". Kishida votes during the LDP presidential election Photo: JIJI PRESS / STR Kishida served as foreign minister between 2012-17, during which time he negotiated accords with Russia and South Korea, with whom Japan's relations are often frosty. "It will lead to greater and wider support from the public if we implement the various programmes we have promised," he said.
On Sunday, he said he would stick to his word if he won the vote. The 64-year-old Kishida beat popular vaccine chief Taro Kono in the second round of the LDP leadership vote Photo: POOL / Carl Court He has also vowed to tackle income inequality under his so-called new capitalism, although details at this stage remain vague.
Seeking to set himself apart from the unpopular pandemic response of Suga's government, Kishida has touted his listening skills and promised a fresh stimulus package in a bid to revive the world's third largest economy.
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