Are you really a group of supporters of Takaichi?　Aso, Shinjiro, and Kobayashi, the founders of the “National Power Study Group,” have their own agendas.

Mr. Aso’s personal agenda

Is it really a “support group for Sanae Takaichi (65)”? ……

On May 7, the LDP’s “National Power Study Group” was revealed, and its first meeting is scheduled to be held on May 21.

What has been attracting attention in Nagata-cho is the impressive lineup of founders.

The first person to join the group is Taro Aso, 85, vice president of the LDP. The group is headed by Vice President Taro Aso (85), and includes such big names as Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi (45), Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi (70), and Policy Research Council Chairman Takayuki Kobayashi (51), all of whom sit at the center of the administration.

The group was set up to support Prime Minister Takaichi. It was Mr. Aso who initiated it. And the fact that Shinjiro, who competed with Takaichi for the presidency in the 2013 election, and others were named as founders of the group is nothing short of remarkable.

Prime Minister Takaichi was said to have a weak base within the party. Moreover, Mr. Aso, who had not been consulted in the general election held in February and was said to be experiencing a “draft,” was the leader in establishing a “cheering squad.

It is said that there is a “factional situation” within the Aso Faction.

The Aso Faction is the only faction that still exists in the LDP, but there is a big problem that there is no successor to Mr. Aso. In other words, there is no candidate for prime minister within the Aso Faction. Taro Kono, 63, who has run for president in the past, is very ambitious, but he is not well remembered by Mr. Aso, and more importantly, he is not popular within the faction. Mr. Aso wants Mr. Takaichi, whom he himself helped to become prime minister, to do well in order to make his presence felt.

But that is not all.

Mr. Aso’s personal agenda may also be at play.

“Mr. Aso’s personal agenda may also be at play,” said one LDP official.

For the 85-year-old Mr. Aso, his main concern is to have his eldest son or daughter take over his constituency. But in his hometown of Fukuoka, the situation is even more complicated than in Nagatacho.

As vice president, Mr. Aso has tremendous power, but his hometown is in turmoil.

In Fukuoka, there is a bigwig, Makoto Koga, who is “dog and monkey” with Aso. The two are so well known for their disagreement that locals say, ‘When Aso says he is on the right, Koga says he is on the left. Koga retired from politics in 2012, but he still retains his hidden power as the elder of the Koikekai,’ said the same LDP official.

Aso, a hawk, and Koga, a dove. Behind the scenes, it is said that they have a “grudge” in their hometown that cannot be fully explained by their political beliefs alone.

Foreign Minister Mogi in a delicate position

Mr. Aso and Ms. Koga are members of the same Liberal Democratic Party, but they have faced off many times, including in the prefectural gubernatorial election and the supplementary election for Fukuoka’s 6th ward. Moreover, Mr. Aso has clashed not only with Mr. Koga but also with Ryota Takeda, former Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications for Fukuoka’s 11th ward. In the next general election, Mr. Aso probably intends to hand over the ground to one of his children, but the local Fukuoka prefectural federation is not monolithic. It is natural that Mr. Aso is worried about what kind of harassment he will face.

The public is very critical of “heredity,” and in the February general election, Ken Yamamoto, the son-in-law of Prime Minister Takaichi, once announced his intention to run, but decided not to run for the Fukui 2nd Constituency.

For Mr. Aso, it may be that his intention is to have Prime Minister Takaichi continue to run in next September’s presidential election and somehow get his child’s official approval smoothly in the next general election. Continuation of Prime Minister Takaichi = security of the Aso family. It would not be an exaggeration to say that the National Power Study Group was formed for this purpose.

(A source close to the LDP).

In fact, Takeda, a natural enemy of Aso’s, announced his participation in the group on May 14. Although Mr. Takeda is originally close to Prime Minister Takaichi, this should be a big win for Mr. Aso.

Koizumi and Kobayashi, who were among the founders of the group under Aso’s leadership, are among the candidates for the next president of Japan. As for the reason why they joined the “Takaichi cheering squad,” political commentator Harumi Arima said, “Shinjiro and Kobayashi are the only ones who are not in the same group as Koizumi and Kobayashi.

Since Shinjiro and Kobayashi are still young, they may have thought that it would be better for them to build up a track record as defense minister and policy chief rather than challenge Takaichi head-on and lose in next year’s presidential election. For Mr. Kobayashi, in particular, the position of party policy chief is a perfect position for him to sell himself.

Kobayashi is in the perfect position to sell himself,” he analyzes.

In such a situation, Mogi is in a delicate position. He ran for the presidency in 2012 and 2013 and lost.

For Mr. Mogi, the next presidential election will be his last chance. But there are some who say that Mogi’s decision to join this group was motivated by Takaichi’s desire for a “Zenkai” (Zen concession). Prime Minister Takaichi has been having health problems since before he took office, and above all, his relationship with President Trump is so close that there is no possibility of their collapsing together, depending on the situation in Iran. He probably wants to ingratiate himself with Takaichi and Aso and get close to them in case they decide to “resign” as prime minister. Since he has high administrative skills, it is not impossible that “Mogi’s desire to be in the prime minister’s position” may emerge in the event of an emergency. ……

Each of the participants had something in their stomachs. Even so, the one who benefited the most was, after all, Prime Minister Takaichi.

The National Power Study Group will surely be a big support for Prime Minister Takaichi, whose party’s internal base was weak. Naturally, he must be grateful to Mr. Aso. In other words, Aso’s voice in the administration has grown stronger.

It is said that the world of politics is always in the dark. It seems that each party has its own agenda to reach the pinnacle of power.