[The following is an excerpt from an interview that the Asahi Shimbun conducted with Kume Akira, former chief secretary of the Liberal Democratic Party headquarters, who had overseen the party’s election campaigns for more than 40 years.]   Kume Akira, election campaign and political advisor. Born in 1954. Joined the LDP headquarters in 1980 after working as an industry newspaper….Read more

Ministers are given more duties every time the cabinet is reshuffled to implement the centerpiece policies of the government. On Sept. 13, the post of Minister in charge of Digital Administrative and Fiscal Reforms was created. Ministers are increasingly assuming duties, including the empowerment of women, regional revitalization, new form of capitalism, a national vision for a digital garden city–the….Read more

Concerning Prime Minister Kishida’s remark at the Sept. 13 press conference in which he said he wanted the new female cabinet ministers to “fully exert their feminine sensibility and ability to empathize,” which has been criticized as “outdated” and lacking a sense of gender equality, Nikkei and Asahi reported that Kishida told the press on Tuesday that his remark was….Read more

Mainichi reported that concerning the latest opinion polls held after the cabinet reshuffle, which found that cabinet approval ratings remained mostly flat, Prime Minister Kishida told the press on Tuesday: “Instead of reacting nervously to the poll results, we must meet the expectations of the public by delivering results on issues that cannot be put off. It is important for….Read more