Former women's empowerment minister Noda to run for LDP leadership

Why would a woman, want to be part of woman hating party

"I want to create a conservative politics in which those who could not take center stage before, such as women, children, the elderly and the disabled, can live comfortably in this society,"

Contradictory statement

It is rumoured that her husband is a former Yakuza...

Doesn't matter, despite all the lip service for LDP reform, not one of these candidates are serious about it. No one will broach the subject of all the corruption that happened during Abe's tenure. Their only aim here is to get someone in the premiership to get the polls looking better than Suga's so that the LDP can win the fall election.

Go, girl.

Girl?

She is 61 years old.

As a woman myself, I'd prefer we stop bringing gender into politics. If things deserve to change, then they will change on their own. We don't need to force things. It will only make men resentful and cause backlash.

Women’s Empowerment Minister? Is that a joke?

A far better choice for a candidate compared to the Mouth of Abe Sanaenomics Takaichi.

Her son, born to fulfill her desire to ‘give birth’, is severely disabled. How can she find the time to hold down a full-time job, never mind what should be the busiest, most demanding job in the country, when her child needs her 24/7?

This is probably the thing about her that bothers me the most. She knew full well that having a child at her age and with her condition would be troublesome but she did it anyway. If she truly had a passion for raising children, that would be fine, but pursuing a career in politics afterwards shows that she only cares about the political statement of it, and that's highly concerning to me.

Japan's former women's empowerment minister Seiko Noda

I will her list achievements.

JayToday  07:06 am JST

STOP with the gender politics!

That is just your filter on display. You see gender, I see a possibility/probability of this human being able to display compassion which is what I believe global politics is lacking.

I wish her well.

@ Jay - fair enough then mate.

I'm a fan of jobs on merit, not gender, colour, quotas etc. Cant see how this Noda is qualified. Having said that, all the options are pretty ordinary!

Eventually there will surely be a decent woman candidate for the top job in Japan.

Slim chance but I will still say "gambatte kudasai!"

@3RENSHO

“It is rumored that her husband is a former Yakuza…”

It’s not a rumor. It’s a well-known fact. The trouble with Noda is that she isn’t aware that her shelf life expired long ago and she’s totally irrelevant in Japanese politics today.

R. T.Today  08:43 am JST

Work contracts are are supposed to be genderless. In this case scenario the 24.5% reduced pay, is defined to be equal work within the contract.

The elephant in the room I suppose is that labor laws arnt enforced, or rather arent treated as law, if they counteract company culture and work culture. So companies will do as they please.

But she is seen as a long shot to win, and her late candidature indicates she may have struggled to gather the necessary support from fellow LDP lawmakers.

True, but this underdog may bite some votes away from the frontrunner Kono who could fail to obtain the absolute majority on the first round. In the run-off voting, the contender Kishida is said to win a majority over Kono. A strategic game is now being played out.

It is rumoured that her husband is a former Yakuza...

It's more than a rumor, as the court has recognized it as a fact.

The former member from Yakuza or designated crime syndicates will have to spend about 5 years after "defection" to gain full civil rights. Noda's husband has fulfilled the condition to become an ordinary citizen. Thus technically the spouse's profile can't or shouldn't affect her candidacy. But of course he seems to tarnish her image.

She gave birth at the age of 50 after undergoing fertility treatment involving a US egg donor, and has pushed to make fertility treatment more accessible in Japan.

Her son, born to fulfill her desire to ‘give birth’, is severely disabled. How can she find the time to hold down a full-time job, never mind what should be the busiest, most demanding job in the country, when her child needs her 24/7?

Jay,

Happens all the time. No worries.

I can think of 893 reasons why the party members should not vote for her.

@3RENSHO

no such thing as former Yakuza. When you're in, it's for life, the only way out is death.

The "former" tag is just a mislabel to make the wife seem a legitimate choice.

Like any politician, she will dance to the tune of those who pull her strings.

please forgive the typos in the last post. I wrote it in a hurry.

It seems someone saw an opening when the weird Sanae announced her run for PM with Shinzo as her mentor.

Where is Koike? Is this too rich for her taste?

Where is Koike? Is this too rich for her taste?

She isn’t a member of the LDP. On what grounds would she be eligible to be leader of the party?

She did start up her own party a while ago. It didn’t go anywhere.

But she is seen as a long shot to win, and her late candidature indicates she may have struggled to gather the necessary support from fellow LDP lawmakers.

From what others did, usually candidates with less support will join candidates with stronger support.

Dr. Koji YodaToday  08:16 am JST

“divisive right-winger”??? Objectivity expected of a credible journalist is subject to question.

I fail to see the lack of objectivity, personally. A lot of people dislike her, hence the "divisive" tag, and what is she if not right-wing? Being right-wing is only bad if a politician also happens to be incompetent, corrupt or both.

Noooooot gonna happen. A woman as Japan's PM not gonna happen at the moment. Things take forever to change in Japan so there is no way at the present, Japan can have a female PM. If there's a woman who had a shot was Koike.

Also, she just decided to run for PM just a week before elections? Weird.

Have you looked at a map?

Every accepted definition of Australia and NZ is that they are Western nations.

You realise the term "Western" in this context is not purely geographic, right?

BTW, seems from your posts you are very angry. Chill out mate, its almost the weekend!

It seems someone saw an opening when the weird Sanae announced her run for PM with Shinzo as her mentor.

Where is Koike? Is this too rich for her taste?

It is too soon for Koike. She is still associated with the Olympics and the pandemic. The same reason is true for Suga and Abe. People still have animosity towards them for their handling of both events.

No, the current system isn't perfect. I kinda doubt it ever can be perfect, but changes are meant to be made slowly and with a lot of skepticism. Things can definitely be done to improve gender balance. Like reimbursing women that do the important job of raising children. But the Western feminist ideal of men and women being exactly the same, having the same expectations, the same responsibilities, the same roles in society. THAT is unrealistic and is damaging to the mental health of both men and women! Just look at the US for proof. Happiness among women has gone DOWN practically every year for the last 40 years.

You guys aren't the only ones that need to improve. We do too. It's good that we hold men accountable for sexual misconduct, but I see too many women that shame men for being more sexual. Men are constructed in a way that naturally makes them think more sexually and respond to it more. It's men's responsibility to keep that in check, but it's also women's responsibility to respect that men deal with that and give them their own spaces to express it.

Well she's less radical than the nut Abe is backing but she doesn't have a chance.

So feminism and female representation in a liberal democracy is considered by western commentators on this page, to be bad and should never be emulated.

What alternatives are there? A male dominated mindset in governance, alludes only to heteropaternalism, that stifles change that is needed to reach a balanced society.

If your daughter, mother, aunt got payed 24.5% less than their male counterpart, you would probably say, meh thats life.

Tell that to the single parents. 1 in 6 children in this country go hungry.

Is there a correlation between decreased wage gap and female representation in parliament?

Country rep% / wage gap%

Denmark 40% / 4.9%

USA 25% / 7%

Australia 31% / 14.2%

Great to see a diverse candidate, but there are much bigger fish to fry than diversity issues.

Japan needs a candidate with a great vision for Japan. No one comes to mind.

She may want the position but does she want the job that goes with it?

So there you have it, government literally in bed with a gangster

Sums up the LDP perfectly, who are a bunch of crooks even without their fellowship with yakuza.

“divisive right-winger”??? Objectivity expected of a credible journalist is subject to question. A critical omission: Court-ruling to the effect that Noda’s husband is a former Yakuza member.

Was she the one a few years ago who shouted "hage," along with other things, as well as singing a bit to herself?

does it even matter?

the public doesn’t vote

cranky old men that steal public funding do.

Oh, and for the people citing the "wage gap"; that's long since been proved a myth. In the US, specifically, women have systemic advantages over men in career progression. The gap develops because of personal choices, because it turns out, a lot of the traditional gender roles that left-wing "progressives" try to forcibly stop, came about naturally based on what makes men and women feel more fulfilled.

Don't get me wrong. I don't think anyone should be FORCED into those roles, but it's unhealthy to punish people for choosing those roles or teaching them to their children, which is what modern feminists and gender activists do. Not to mention that they punish and attack men just for expressing male traits.

Feminists have forced their ideology on almost every country. Why can't they leave some alone? You now have a plethora of countries abiding by that ideology that you could live it. Let people that disagree with you have a place to live too.

Western countries control information flow more than Japan? Sorry but that made me giggle, after living on 3 continents I have not seen a " developed democracy " where information is more tightly controlled by the govt than Japan. NHK, Kyodo, Kisha media club...no need to say more.

The NHK, Kyodo, and Kisha are just information/propaganda organizations, but they don't control organizations. Most people get almost all their info from the internet these days, which is dominated by American countries and given incentives to act and censor by American politicians.

Beg to disagree...very easy to fall into the trap of believing Japanese are all happy and fulfilled due to the cultural aspect of tatemae face value where near everyone here will tell you with a smiley face they are all happy as whilst under the surface its not the case. Westerners generally will express their feelings straight...be they happy or otherwise ( in fact more often whinging than not ). Of course there are exceptions on both side of the fence, but thats the general gist of it.

I have lived in both Japan and the US, and, while I by no means thinks everyone in Japan is as happy as can be, they do find peace to live out their lives within society and find social cohesion together. Than can only be achieved when people are content. Or at least content enough. In the US, (and most Western countries) the unhappiness is evident in the rampant crime, spiking mental illness rates, and overall restrictions of freedom and forced crackdowns by governments.

I moved to Japan because I wanted to get away from all this, and yet, here it is trying to take root here too. Slowly, granted, but any pace is terrifying to me when I just want to get away from it. I'm SO tired of it all. I just want to be left alone!

@gintonic Beg to disagree...very easy to fall into the trap of believing Japanese are all happy and fulfilled due to the cultural aspect of tatemae face value where near everyone here will tell you with a smiley face they are all happy as whilst under the surface its not the case.

We are happy here. My wife hate Japan. She went to study in UK and came back appreciating Japan. Japanese are just used to the good. Not know how bad are other countries.

Remember what the LDP did to Obuchi Yuko?

Barely scraped together 20 supporters to qualify - that tells you she is not widely supported.

But at least she is trying, and marginally more acceptable than Takaichi.

You're still in the honeymoon. Wait for a few years to see the full picture, then you'll regret.

I've never felt so at home and compatible with society before. Maybe you're right, but I really doubt it.

Sounds like a reasonable women, at least as far as bourgeois politics go. Comparing these people often seems like comparing dog +'= with cat +'=.

Tony W.Today  08:56 am JST

................. electing a female PM is overdue for Japan, .................

Even at the expense of a better qualified male candidate?

Western countries control a lot of the information flow and do a good job convincing people that they are excelling, but the US, UK, Canada (and Australia even though it's not Western)

@ Jay - Australia is not a Western nation? When did this happen? Very curious to hear your take on this.

She's not really a feminist in the traditional sense. She's been pragmatic. Not a fan of her but you can't be a feminist in this country and win anything. Still, she's been smart.

She is a feminist. She just adjusts her policies to what she can get away with and will push for more and more as she is able to. That's how it happened in the West.

Wish her well in an open race like this who knows

the fact that my last post, which is just talking about my personal experience, is getting mass downvoted, says a lot. Vote based on the comment, not the person.

STOP with the gender politics!

Can't we leave one place alone??

Gender politics haven't exactly been successful in other places. The West is full of it and yet both men and women are less happy there. Why emulate that?? You could just move to the West if you want it so bad!

You realise the term "Western" in this context is not purely geographic, right?

I'm aware. That's why I listed it and said in parenthesis that it's not technically Western in the strictest sense.

BTW, seems from your posts you are very angry. Chill out mate, its almost the weekend!

Also, yeah, except, I'm not angry. I'm tense. I've spent my whole life being shamed for being a man, dealt with it, and now have to witness my nephews suffering through and even worse version, and THEN I see it gaining ground in Japan, one of the few places that seemed to resist this kind of thing.

When something makes you suffer and all your forms of escape from it are taken away, it tends to make you frustrated.

This is just a chance for some face time! The 20 Diet members that are "supporting" her bid know it as well. She will be eliminated in the first round of voting, and I will bet that even the 20 "supporters" wont all vote for her either.

She wont win, she knows it, but just wants the air time to get her ideas about how things should be, get out.

If there were a general election held for the position of PM, the LDP would fear her as a candidate.

The problem with Japan is the SEVERE lack of forward thinking. While the rest if world moves on, Japan is stuck still using fax machines, still electing the same leaders who have the EXACT SAME MINDSET as the leaders 50 years ago.

Yeah I get that , most of us wanna get away from one thing or another...hope you find your peaceful place.

Except I can't do that when gender politics, one of the primary things that harassed me, is coming to the same place I spent years and a lot of money trying to escape to.

The problem with Japan is the SEVERE lack of forward thinking. While the rest if world moves on, Japan is stuck still using fax machines, still electing the same leaders who have the EXACT SAME MINDSET as the leaders 50 years ago.

I HATE this arrogant mindset of "The world needs to keep changing and when it doesn't change the way I want, it's regressive and outdated". The system is the way it is because it works. We built it after millenia of human history to refine it. In biology, most mutations are bad. Do you know why that is? Cause the system was structured in a way that works, and changes to that system are USUALLY damaging to it.

If the changes you wanted to make to our traditions are so successful, then why are those "progressive" countries in such chaos right now? Why are people like me fleeing to more traditional places like Japan at great cost to us? It's because your changes DON'T work!

No, the current system isn't perfect. I kinda doubt it ever can be perfect, but changes are meant to be made slowly and with a lot of skepticism. Things can definitely be done to improve gender balance. Like reimbursing women that do the important job of raising children. But the Western feminist ideal of men and women being exactly the same, having the same expectations, the same responsibilities, the same roles in society. THAT is unrealistic and is damaging to the mental health of both men and women! Just look at the US for proof. Happiness among women has gone DOWN practically every year for the last 40 years.

Go, girl.

What are you going on about? This is an internal LDP election (ie Japanese politicians decide who runs and gets elected ). Are you suggesting LDP lawmakers move to the west?

As for men and women less happy there - in the world,s happiness index European / Western countries consistently dominate while Japan scores a lowly 62nd place. Google it before making untrue assumptions.

That Index is riddled with biased measurements, such as Western-based psychology scores and economics (implying that being richer makes you happier). That's not an accurate measure. If you've ever been to Japan and the US (let alone lived there) it's clear as day that Japanese people are happier and more fulfilled.

Western countries control a lot of the information flow and do a good job convincing people that they are excelling, but the US, UK, Canada (and Australia even though it's not Western), have been failing since the turn of the century.

The trouble with Noda is that she isn’t aware that her shelf life expired long ago and she’s totally irrelevant in Japanese politics today.

Right, and if this was a fact, she wouldn't have been reelected time after time!

Even though Seiko Noda is a long shot to win. The good thing is just by running for the election gives Japanese women the empowerment to try changing the status quo.

R. T.Today  09:25 am JST

True. Like unemployment calcuations been different in many countries, the calculation of the pay gap done by the ministery and by an outside foreign organisation using the same standard across the world, would have different calculations.  It nonetheless is a median calcuation for example; the GPG is derived as the difference between women's and men's average weekly full-time equivalent earnings, expressed as a percentage of men's earnings - in Australia.

Yes, you are right. The factors that determine the differences in pay, may well go beyond the literal sense of the word, gender.

However, the difference in pay can be caused by:

Occupational segregation (men in higher paid industries and women in lower paid industries)

Vertical segregation (fewer women in senior positions, thus better paying positions)

ineffective equal pay legislation (measures that promote equal opportunity for women in the workplace)

Womens overall paid working hours (The company may reduce pay, in a review process that may be discriminatory, e.g. she has a family, taking too much leave to look after kids.)

Tha fact remains in a 共働き world, where both sexes must contribute more to the economy, reducing gender-gap pay helps everyone long term - e.g. the pension scheme.

Why would a woman, want to be part of woman hating party

Possibly to, I dunno... Make it less woman hating?

Good chance or not, u wish her luck, electing a female PM is overdue for Japan, even Australia has had one in recent decades.

She's not really a feminist in the traditional sense. She's been pragmatic. Not a fan of her but you can't be a feminist in this country and win anything. Still, she's been smart.

Australia is not a Western nation? When did this happen? Very curious to hear your take on this.

Have you looked at a map?

I am intrigued. Did you spend a lot of time speaking in Japanese to Japanese friends in Japan - hearing their honest opinions on Japanese society - in order to reach this conclusion?

Yes! Friends and my then girlfriend, now fiance. I spoke to those for nearly 2 years asking about it, and checking sources, discovering that most of criticisms were propaganda at best and lies at worst.

That's when I finally decided to move. I've been here for 6 months now and it's better than I could have ever hoped.

shes definitely an underdog and i love a good underdog storyline... hope she wins but i highly doubt it will happen

Well she's less radical than the nut Abe is backing but she doesn't have a chance.

agree. I'm impressed that we now have 2 candidates not affiliated with Nippon Kaigi that are running. Not that I think that anyone has a chance of winning if they are not affiliated with NK