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© KYODOKishida struggling to show leadership
By Tomoyuki Tachikawa TOKYO©2025 GPlusMedia Inc.
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© KYODO
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Peter Neil
We’re in an age where few politicians and so-called leaders are admired or have earned respect from people just trying to live their lives. Japan and most countries.
Start a war to distract people from a bad economy. Blame some other country or race. Control, control, control. Money, money, money. Corruption, corruption, corruption.
It reminds me of a video of traffic lights (control) going out at a busy intersection. Traffic was always backed up all ways. The lights went out, and drivers just used common sense and the traffic jam went away and traffic moved quickly with no accidents.
sakurasuki
Is there any leader in current J Govt recently? What so called leader in Japan only good in making another new gaffe, spending more budget, failed to identify and to tackle actual problem in Japan, spend more record budget and also making meaningless new slogan or concept.
deanzaZZR
Now I'm confused. PM Kishida yesterday declared he was going to lead the world.
dagon
Therein lies the problem.
LDP lawmakers should be insulted frequently and specifically for their lack of accountability to the majority, their privilege, their cronyism and nepotism, and most of all their failure to be of any productive benefit to the public except their Japan Inc. cronies.
JeffLee
Preparing to hike taxes permanently and broadly while offering limited tax cuts for a short period just beforehand is a sleazy policy, you must admit.
diagonalslip
excellent summation Peter, and the perfect analogy. ( a phenomenon I noticed when driving a minicab in London 50 years ago, and which had a powerful impact on me )
obladi
The nickname is "zoze kuso megane". I think something got lost in translation there, JT.
itsonlyrocknroll
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida simply needs to be his own man, easier said that done from an arm chair.
The constant negative flow of monetary misery, accompanying political inertia, policy vacuum, repetition over innovation, all associated with faction lead, ruling government embedded over decades.
J society needs change, it crazy lopsided birth rates, the ever approaching ravages of an aging population, a youth that has never encountered the inside of a voting booth, dead heads buried in smartphones,
It need a J boot up the backside as never before.
The necessity to frivolously spend, the sovereign debt ratcheting up as the need to harness approval ratings for his Cabinet, propels ever more costly extravagant spending packages/fiscal stimulus.
The shopping list ever more eyewatering, extravagant, defense spending is the next burden needing to be addressed.
However, to force hideously regressive consumption tax increases is simply a criminal refusal to face a painful truth, delaying across the board reforms, restructuring of every sector, every policy initiative, employment, education, health care. etc.
That staid, stale LDP, let have an election rulebook needs to be thrown launched out the window.
Yubaru
There have been few if any, arguably, true "leaders" that have become PM here in Japan. They are elected by their peers, but only because one faction or the other, plays "kingmaker", and then the PM has to kiss-butt among all of them, to keep their support.
Abe was a dictator within the LDP, the people of Japan thought of him as "charismatic", because he could put on a show, but there was nothing to support it.
Japanese PM's are leaders in name only, they have ZERO leadership skills!
u_s__reamer
Kishida struggling? Don't they all?! What a disgrace and shame to contemplate the state of our world today where incompetents, crooks, criminals and monsters govern and decide the destiny of millions whose lives can be snuffed out on a whim to satisfy the greedy egos of government officials.
Mark
I Mr. Kishida or the LDP really want to help the Citizens of Japan how about reducing the 16,520 jpy Minimum monthly pension payments that is shoved down people throat?
How about starting a government supported IRA Plan for people who wish to start their own savings for retirement!?
Mark
I view Mr. Kishida as a the world leader trying to fix world problems first then Japan second , Mr. Kishida needs to stop his panic trying to contain so called ""China Assertion"" and focus on the will being of the Japanese people, I can't see how he could be spending any time tackling domestic crises when he is abroad almost every other month!???
diagonalslip
....yet, according to yesterday's article, "Kishida says he is determined to lead world toward cooperation, not division".
Will Taylor
Does any of this jockeying really matter? He could call an election tomorrow or a year from now and the results would be more or less the same, the LDP will overwhelmingly win, maybe shift 4 or 5 seats at best. The "opposition" has no coherency here.
Mike_Oxlong
Puppets will puppet.
itsonlyrocknroll
"Kishida says he is determined to lead world toward cooperation, not division".
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida could, unshackled from a J political world of faction led, vested interest knocking, ruling government.
Let loose, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida without any need to pander to LDP competing agendas, past and present. He could excel in such a role if such a role, ever existed.
Fumio Kishida, an independent, impartial, responsibility to act/mediate in international disputes, he would be in his element.
Fumio Kishida is a trustworthy fellow, unassuming, not a hard-nosed political banshee advocating tsunami like waves of discontent.
All this stuff "tax hike glasses", nonsense, he’s hardly a dead ringer for Elton John about to break out into a rendition of don’t let the sun go down on me.
Jim
Such a wonderful and of course beautiful country heading in the wrong direction towards complete collapse! The wonderful years in Japan were 2005-2010 and even after the earthquake tragedy in 2011, the people put in lot of effort to help rebuild. Around 2013-2015 was not so bad ( in regards to economy / cost of living ) but afterwards it’s just been a downward spiral leading to the hardship of average citizens. The last 2-3 years has just been terrible for the common people who are struggling to make ends meet while the Government has been wasting money elsewhere instead of helping the people in Japan!
Jim
@Mark
Excellent insight and thought! Also your earlier comment on the need and ways of helping people with pension support is absolutely correct!
Hideomi Kuze
Japan's recent PM is like puppet for economy circles or military-industrial complex.
"leadership" is nowhere.
Peter Neil
1989-1992 were pretty good. ;)
antifun
This does explain his state of mind quite well. Coming from a position of privilege, he now feels he has to prove himself to be worthy of his position and not the silver spoon fed, empty suit, sock puppet that he actually is. He wants to leave on his terms and not like the strawberry farmer, who had to leave unceremoniously before an election to let LDP anoint someone else who could show a temporary fresh facelift on the old rotten pig. Well the clock is ticking, he has until early 2025 to get his approval ratings up or they will yoink him off the stage whether he wants it or not.
Seesaw7
The nickname is "zoze kuso megane". I think something got lost in translation there, JT.
LOL
shogun36
Struggling?
Did he ever START showing leadership?
indigo
because he is not a leader but just a debt money printer pleasing the US
wolfshine
While he does make for an easy punching bag, it's less convenient though ultimately more important to consider the long-term context and the factors that led us to this point.
Wildly adventuristic and inefficient Covid policy spending. Massive investment into Olympic-related facilities, even though spectators couldn't actually attend, as well as a lack of tourism-related revenue. An incredibly long and overdue reopening process that was plagued by convoluted steps and processes. Inability to push GDP. Lack of innovation.
These problems definitely did not start with Kishida, but he did very little to address them or make any meaningful progress. In late 2021, they were going to reopen the country, but backed out due to Covid related paranoia - even though they had already thrown just about everything possible at the problem. Imagine how much the Japanese economy could have benefited from an extra eleven months worth of tourism related revenue. Or, even more than that, had they just reopened prior to the Olympics.
Another example is military spending. Why did they wait this long to start modernizing? This is a process that should have started a decade ago, because at least that way, they could have paced out what they were going to spend over a longer period of time. Now they have to rush to catch up. That's nothing to say of the fact that they can't even recruit enough manpower.
And now with the Osaka Expo having a price tag twice as much as the original estimate, we're seeing the same pattern play out as what happened with the Olympics.
The leadership is too slow and they're not learning from their previous follies. They make terrible investments and then have to print/tax their way out of it. Japan's wealth is starting to disappear and they're falling behind Germany in GDP. Other Asian powers are starting to catch up, too.
The problem is, it will take more than just LDP bad press to get things to change in this country. The young people are going to need to start being more aggressive about their demands and force the people running the country to play more competitively.
OKuniyoshi
Has no leadership/demonstrating leadership. He does not know/understand what his job is/responsibilities are, therefore, has the wrong priorities/unable to/don't know how to select the right people/how to delegate, therefore poor leader, ie, leave. Big picture, the country needs/desperately, a new political landscape. IE, new people, younger? new parties, more varied? Definitely, not family's dynasties type.
BertieWooster
If you have to struggle to show leadership, you just haven't got it.
SapperJon
When the country is the second highest indebted country in the world after Venezuela per head of population maybe not a good idea to cut your income stream just to make you look better for a minuet.
Simon Foston
Will TaylorToday 09:24 am JST
That's because they've got no money and elections are not cheap. Not a problem for LDP politicians with piles and piles of inherited wealth and dubious donations though.