Japan's Digital Minister Kono intends to run in LDP leadership race

Round and round we go, the musical chair of being PM at least once. Come one come all have a try!

Absolute arrogant twerp who blocks anyone from his Twitter account if they don't agree with him.

He has nothing but contempt towards the average Japanese citizen.

Being a voter in Japan is really akin to being between a rock and a hard place.

Having said that I would rather him than Sanae Takaichi or the other looney tune.

Kono Taro, according to his wishes.

If Kono, 61, runs, it would be a rare case of a minister challenging an incumbent head of the Cabinet in the ruling party's presidential election.

Finally, a sensible human being not afraid of next-generation advancements.

We most certainly don’t need the gaffe-prone, backward-thinking Yoko Kamikawa (“How can we women call ourselves women without giving birth.”).

Kono’s not afraid to be his own forward-thinking man. In fact, he’s about as close to an Obama-like transition that Japan can get at the moment.

And his decision to challenge Kishida and the establishment definitely shows he’s got balls!

I don’t know much about him (an advantage?) but I I hope the “My Number” rollout isn’t a preview of what a Konno-led government would look like.

It would be cool to have a Georgetown grad fluent in English as PM of Japan.

I hope the “My Number” rollout isn’t a preview of what a Konno-led government would look like.

I hope it is.

Only two years after its introduction (2023), approximately 91.36 million My Number cards had been issued, covering about 72.8% of all citizens in Japan.

Starting in 2025, My Number cards will be available in Apple Wallet.

Who else in the Japanese Cabinet is getting these things done?

The Kono family owns a business with close ties with China. People are fed up with Kishida and Kamikawa is just a puppet of the LDP. All things considered, Takaichi is the least of the evils.

Choose your poison from the LDP line up of bigoted arrogant cronies!!

@Meiyouwenti

The Kono family owns a business with close ties with China. 

If Kono owns businesses with “close ties with China,” in your eyes making him unsuitable for the PM position, wouldn’t the LDP have realized that fact already and not put him in charge of overseeing the nation’s data?

As the approval ratings for Kishida's Cabinet have plummeted to their lowest levels since its launch in October 2021, due largely to his handling of a slush funds scandal

Do Kyodo journalists just make this stuff up? What evidence is there for the "due largely to"? As the cliché goes: it's the economy, stupid. For most people prices are rising much faster than incomes, the yen is so weak international travel is out of the question, and so on. Could have something to do with it.

Please no!

Defective "My number insurance card" system that Kono forcibly pushes it to people 

Can’t blame the man for doing the crappy job Kishida dumped on him, hoping he would fail. What can you expect for a digital initiative in a country where in 2024 the abacus and the fax machine are still standard issue?

Tweedle-dee… Tweedle-dumb…

Round and round we go.

Kono seems like a sensible choice as the new PM. He will likely be far more popular and in touch with the public than Kishida - and will probably shore up support for the LDP to ensure it retains power at the next general election.

Does he have support from the factions? That's the most important factor now.

The same symphony only the conductor is different!let me guess! more parties and kick back money hiding?

Why is Kono the digital minister? Does Kono even know the difference between HTTP and HTTPS?

I doubt Kono ever wrote an e-mail in his life, all written by his secretaries.

Long time I believed in him but he fell in Kishida’s trap who sees him as a main rival. Completely failed as digital minister.

too late for him now

Asiaman, you are clearly a fan. But I have a my number card since minimum 8 years. Kono has done nothing to speed up the administration joining the 21st century. He will get rid of the floppy disks now, he says.

as minister of foreign affairs he could not make his mark either.

he does speak fluent English but has no less contempt for foreigners than the other LDP “ leaders”.

he is another disappointment.

The fait accompli of continuous ruling governments is the refusal to accept quote...

“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”

I am sorry to suggest that Digital Minister Taro Kono is just another cardboard cut-out puppet Prime Minster to be presented to the people only to be instructed to do as he is told.

Kono, known as an outspoken lawmaker, conveyed his intention to LDP Vice President Taro Aso, a former prime minister who heads an intraparty group that the minister belongs to, during a dinner meeting on Wednesday, the source said.

Speaking to reporters about the matter on Thursday, Kono, a reform-minded maverick and social media-savvy member within the conservative LDP, said, "Who? Which Mr. Kono?" He added, "I have never disclosed what I discussed over dinner. That's an interesting novel."

Right here, yet the government of China is threatening war with Taiwan, the east and south China sea shipping routes are in danger of coming under the full milltary control of Xi Jinping despot dictatorship.

The proposed next Prime Minster of Japan must forge leadership within government, his own clear policies that reform and restructure Japan economy and security.

The BOJ has lost control of the currency. The government has no clear monetary fiscal plan.

LDP Vice President Taro Aso factionist interference has to come to an end, he must be forced to step down permanently.

I have a my number card since minimum 8 years.

Robert, you are writing about the old paper-version of the My Number card, which has become obsolete. The much-more-useful digital version overseen by Kono was introduced in 2021.

Anyone that loves durian as much as Kono does can’t be all bad!