Prime Minister Kishida prays to the god of war, Bishamonten, in his policy speech and the future of his administration
With the opening of the extraordinary Diet session, the debate between the ruling and opposition parties has begun in earnest. How will the government achieve “distribution” and “growth”? The public has high expectations for the realization of what Prime Minister Fumio Kishida calls “new capitalism.
After 8:00 p.m. on November 18, Prime Minister Kishida had dinner at Honke Abeya Kagurazaka, a yakitori restaurant in Kagurazaka, to console his office staff.
Prime Minister Kishida said, “Everyone has worked very hard so far. Thank you very much for your hard work. Now, the extraordinary Diet session is next. Eat and drink well today,’ he said briefly, and after spending nearly two hours gobbling up more than a dozen pieces of yakitori and drinking like a bat out of hell, he left the restaurant with a steady gait. He had a hearty appetite, as if he was trying to replenish his energy for the extraordinary session of the Diet, which is about to begin in earnest.
As he walked from the restaurant and got into his car, which was waiting for him in front of the Bishamonten Zenkokuji temple, he bowed his head to the Bishamonten temple. The crowd in the downtown area increased as the new Covid-19 subsided. The drunkards were surprised to witness the prime minister.
Bishamonten is known as the god of war. Abeya, where we ate and drank, is a restaurant that sells “Akita’s Hinai Chicken. One of the LDP officials laughed and said, “I’ve never seen anything like it.
The name of the restaurant is the same as the former prime minister’s. “Akita Prefecture, where Hinai chicken is produced, is the birthplace of former Prime Minister Kan. The name of the restaurant is the same as that of the former prime minister. The name of the restaurant is the same as the former prime minister’s. It became a topic of conversation that Prime Minister Kishida must have regained his strength by eating up his inner enemy (laughs).
(laughs) I think the administration is doing well so far. The latest approval rating for the cabinet is 62%, which is the same as the Obuchi administration. He’s getting more confident with each passing day.
After passing a large supplementary budget in the extraordinary Diet session in December, there will be a series of elections in January that will have a direct impact on the Henoko base issue: the Nago mayoral election in January, the upper house election in July, and the Okinawa gubernatorial election in September, all of which will have a significant impact on the administration. The year 2022 will be an election year, and there will be no respite. The government is still struggling to deal with the Omicron stock market. For the Kishida administration, it will be tempted to worship God or Buddha.
Perhaps empowered by Bishamonten, Prime Minister Kishida’s policy speech was much more spirited than the one he delivered at the extraordinary Diet session in October. The number of words in his speech was 1.5 times that of the previous session. The speech was 1.5 times as long as the previous one, and focused on measures to combat Covid-19, growth and distribution, and stimulating debate on constitutional reform. The “table of contents” of Kishida’s policies were all mentioned.
The opposition parties were united in their criticism of the prime minister’s speech.
The National Democratic Party of Japan (NDP) jointly submitted with The Japan Innovation Party a proposal to amend the Expenditure Law with a set of three points: “pro-rating,” “receipts,” and “disclosure of use” of document communication, transportation, and accommodation expenses, which are considered to be the back pay of Diet members. Representative Yuichiro Tamaki was scathing, saying, “All the concrete measures on how to help the people out of their troubled situation are missing.
Nobuyuki Baba, co-chairman of The Japan Innovation Party, said , “I’m not sure what exactly the new capitalism is supposed to do.
Mizuho Fukushima, leader of the Social Democratic Party of Japan, called the speech “a speech without passion.
Taro Yamamoto, the leader of the Okinawa Shinsengumi, said, ” He’s even smoother than the previous prime minister. There are too few corrections,” he said.
Kazuo Shii, chairman of the Communist Party of Japan, pointed out in a strong tone, “This is the first time that the phrase ‘enemy base attack capability’ has been mentioned in a policy statement, and a new danger has emerged in this speech.
Against this backdrop, Kenta Izumi, the leader of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDP), who is trying to break free from the image of being a critical force, had an unusual response.
Kenta Izumi, the leader of the Rikken Democratic Party, who is trying to break free from the image of being a critical force, had an unusual response. Rikken’s reforms were right. I realized that the role of the opposition is in this area,” he said, giving a certain amount of credit to the statement.
The commentary was ambitious in its attempt to dispel the image of the “Edano constitution,” and said, “We will look at the government’s concrete measures in the future. It lacked the power of the first opposition party.
The Kishida administration was born out of the Liberal Democratic Party’s liberal faction, the Koike Kai, but in his speech he said, “We Diet members have a responsibility to seriously confront the state of the Constitution.
The late former Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa, who was also Kishida’s political mentor, had this to say about Article 9 of the Constitution before he died.
The late Kiichi Miyazawa, former prime minister and Kishida’s political mentor, said before his death, “It is the duty of those in charge of government to observe the Constitution by sweating oil and devising new interpretations.
However, Prime Minister Kishida said, “It is important to further deepen public understanding. He also said that the debate between the ruling and opposition parties must lead the way. This is more in-depth than former Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga’s speech in October of last year.
The words of politicians are important. They should not be allowed to be just words. They must take responsibility for the words they speak. I sincerely hope that Fumio Kishida’s “Statement of Policy,” which he has just started to deliver, will bear fruit in the form of a politics that is free of lies and correctly addresses the people.
Interview and text by: Takashi Hashimoto Photo: Motoo Naka/Afro: Motoo Naka/Afro