Kishida's balancing act | This week in Japanese politics

The prime minister overrules his party on political reform, while making diplomatic strides with China and South Korea

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Prime Minister Kishida speaks to the press before departing for the Japan-China-South Korea summit in Seoul. Source: Prime Minister’s Office of Japan

The week started with Prime Minister Kishida Fumio in Seoul for the first trilateral summit with Chinese and South Korean leaders since 2019 and ended with his defense minister in Singapore meeting with his Chinese and South Korean counterparts. In between, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) lost a gubernatorial election to the Constitutional Democratic Party’s (CDP) candidate; a major CDP politician entered the Tokyo gubernatorial race; and Kishida had to step in to negotiations with Kōmeitō and Ishin no Kai on political reform legislation to forge a compromise, angering members of his own party in the process. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Finance released data showing the full extent of its intervention in foreign exchange markets. Plus: young Japanese continue to lose interest in becoming bureaucrats.

Politics

The Constitutional Democratic Party (CDP)-endorsed Suzuki Yasutomo prevailed over the LDP-backed Ōmura Shinichi by a comfortable five-point margin in the Shizuoka gubernatorial election on Sunday, 26 May. While the LDP tried to downplay the national implications of the vote, the CDP treated it like a by-election, sending top leaders to support Suzuki. Following the vote, the Asahi Shimbun quoted an unnamed Kishida faction member saying that the loss “could make it look like the Kishida government is already finished.”

While the LDP failed to move a political reform bill out of the House of Representatives by the end of May, negotiations between the LDP, Kōmeitō, and Ishin no Kai have resulted in revisions to the LDP’s proposals that could clear the way for passage within the next week. The revised proposal will, among other things, lower the threshold for disclosing who purchased tickets for fundraising parties from the LDP’s initial proposal of JPY 100,000 or higher to Kōmeitō’s proposal of JPY 50,000 or higher; cap expenditures from “policy activity funds” and require documentation of expenditures that will be disclosed after ten years; and cap the maximum amount that individuals and companies can spend on fundraising tickets. Kōmeitō, and Ishin no Kai have suggested that the new proposal is broadly acceptable, but negotiations are continuing. The CDP, meanwhile, said that the new draft should be properly discussed in committee, and asked the LDP to change its plans to pass the legislation on Monday, 3 June, which the LDP accepted.

While Prime Minister Kishida Fumio was working with Kōmeitō and Ishin no Kai to secure their support for a compromise, he may not have lined up his own party behind the revised proposal. Asō Tarō, Kishida’s most important backer, seems especially displeased with the compromise, which Kishida told him was necessary to ensure the Diet passes legislation this session, without which Kishida’s government could fall.