Friction with China | Today in Japanese politics

While the LDP holds two events and the CDP candidates hold a final debate, Japan lodges complaints with China over two incidents

Thank you for reading Observing Japan. In light of the volume of activity in Japanese politics, “This Week in Japanese Politics” will become “Today in Japanese Politics” through the LDP election on 27 September. I cannot guarantee it will truly be published daily, but my goal will be to update this feature several times a week for paid subscribers.

If you are looking for timely, forward-looking analysis of the stories in Japans’s politics and policymaking that move markets, I have launched a new service through my business, Japan Foresight LLC. For more information about Japan Foresight’s services or for information on how to sign up for a trial or schedule a briefing, please visit our website or reach out to me.

All readers are invited to participate in a contest to predict the winners of the LDP and CDP leadership races. More information about rules and prizes here. Please submit your entry by 11:59pm ET on 19 September to be eligible for the prize drawing. Click the survey button below to enter:

Readers can also find my views on the LDP race in the following articles:

• Alastair Gale, “Latest Polls Suggest Japan Leadership Race Is a Three-Way Tussle,” Bloomberg

I also spoke with the Sankei Shimbun in an interview about the LDP leadership election published here.

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The rundown

The LDP leadership candidates participated in two candidate events on Wednesday, even as the party has stepped up its scrutiny of Takaichi Sanae’s pre-campaign mailers to party supporters. The CDP candidates hold their final party-sponsored event in Tokyo, while elsewhere in politics, Kōmeitō’s new leader is confirmed and Hyōgo prefecture’s political crisis nears its climax. In economic policy, Prime Minister Kishida Fumio’s record gets middling marks from business and Japan agrees to start trade talks with the United Arab Emirates. In foreign policy, Japan’s relationship with China was tested again, with the Japanese government lodging separate complaints over the passage of a Chinese aircraft carrier in Japan’s contiguous waters and a knife attack on a Japanese boy in Guangdong Province. Finally, Hayashi Yoshimasa provides some light entertainment for his fellow candidates.

LDP leadership election

LDP candidates join forums in Osaka (above) and Matsuyama (below) on 18 September. Screenshots by author.

LDP candidates spoke at two forums on Wednesday, 18 September, one in Matsuyama, Ehime prefecture and the other in Osaka. In Matsuyama, the candidates mostly touted their plans for regional revitalization and reversing the over-centralization of Japan’s economy and society on Tokyo, talking about their plans for agriculture, infrastructure, and tourism. In Osaka, the candidates were more focused on how to bolster the party’s fortunes in Osaka prefecture, after the party’s candidates were swept by Ishin no Kai in the 2021 general election and also fell to Ishin no Kai in local elections.

After the LDP’s election administration committee indicated it is considering additional punishments for Takaichi Sanae’s campaign after her staff sent fliers to rank-and-file party members ahead of the 4 September announcement that direct mail was forbidden, one of Takaichi’s secretaries reiterated that the mailing was planned in late July, before she had decided on a leadership bid, and that the mailing did not include any request for votes in the leadership election. Prime Minister Kishida Fumio himself has discussed the issue with LDP general council chair Moriyama Hiroshi and recommended further action by the committee. Meanwhile, the Hayashi campaign joined the Ishiba campaign in questioning Takaichi’s mailings.