Japan’s new PM: Yoshihide Suga rises from rural beginnings to replace Shinzo Abe

Japan’s parliament on Wednesday elected Yoshihide Suga as prime minister, replacing long-serving leader Shinzo Abe, who resigned earlier in the day due to ill health. The Abe loyalist, who was chief cabinet secretary in Abe’s government, had been chosen as leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) on Monday, virtually assuring he would clinch the top job. The new leader has said he will pursue Abe’s unfinished policies and that his top priorities will be fighting the coronavirus and fixing the battered economy. Suga’s election caps a long career that has seen him serve in several key political roles. As Abe’s top spokesman, he defended decisions in daily press conferences, and he helped to push through several landmark policies, including a loosening of restrictions on foreign workers. Will Suga end Japan’s ‘curse’ of quick turnover of prime ministers? Suga, 71, was raised by a farmer and a schoolteacher in rural Akita in northern Japan and put himself through university by working at a factory. He was elected to his first office in 1987 as a municipal assembly member in Yokohama, and entered parliament in 1996. He made reference to his background in accepting the party’s nomination as leader, saying he “started from zero”. As the new prime minister, Suga inherits a range of challenges, including relations with China, which continues to make assertive actions in the East China Sea, and the Tokyo Olympics, which was postponed due to the coronavirus. He will also have to establish good ties with the winner of the November US presidential election. Suga, who does not belong to any wing within the party and opposes factionalism, says he is a reformer who will break down vested interests and rules that hamper reforms. He says he will set up a new government agency to speed up Japan’s lagging digital transformation. His new cabinet was announced shortly after the vote, with several ministers keeping their jobs, including Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi and Finance Minister Taro Aso. Abe’s brother Nobuo Kishi, who was adopted by his uncle as a child and carries his surname, is the new defence minister, replacing Taro Kono, who becomes administrative reform minister. Suga’s rise to prime minister might lead to some friction with the Tokyo Metropolitan government as he has had a testy relationship with Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike. Koike has in the past been mentioned as a potential future prime minister, but those ambitions have been frustrated by what is widely perceived as an “old boys’ network” that makes the important decisions within the Liberal Democratic Party. Koike and Suga have clashed, most recently in July when Suga reiterated that the national government had no plans to reimpose a state of emergency on Japan as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, adding that the issue was “predominantly Tokyo’s problem”. Koike snapped back, insisting: “It is a national problem.” With Modi-Abe bromance gone, will Japan’s ties with India remain solid? Jun Okumura, an analyst at the Meiji Institute for Global Affairs, said the ill feeling had been heightened by “grandstanding” by both sides, with Koike rated better by the public for her policy of extreme caution in handling the pandemic, while Abe pushed to reopen businesses. “It’s a difficult balancing act, but Koike was very definitely seen to have gained the upper hand in the messaging on that particular issue,” he said. Being veteran politicians, Okumura said the two would eventually be able to compromise on pressing issues. “I’m confident that they will be able to work together on the issues they face – the virus, the economy, the Tokyo Olympic Games,” he said. “I think they will be able to put the past to one side and get on with the important jobs.” Shinzo Abe wanted Japanese women to ‘shine’. What happened? Suga has earned a somewhat fearsome reputation for wielding his power to control Japan’s sprawling and powerful bureaucracy and help push through government policies. “People think I’m terribly scary, especially bureaucrats,” he said during a leadership debate. “But I’m very kind … to those who work seriously.” He has allowed only occasional glimpses into his personal life, with his wife and three children far from the spotlight. But he has said in interviews that he bookends his day with 100 sit-ups in the morning and 100 in the evening, and has a weakness for pancakes. “Since I don’t drink alcohol at all, and I’ve said I like sweets such as pancakes, my image has changed a lot,” he said recently. “But actually, I want people to say, ‘He is scary when it comes to his job’.” Reporting by AFP, AP