The lonely content of Fumio Kishida’s political seminar held on the morning of his nomination as prime minister

On the morning of October 4, far more than 400 people from the world of politics and business rushed to the Hotel New Otani Tsurunoma, and the area around the hotel was crowded with black luxury cars.

It was the first Monday of the week when the ban on political fund-raising parties, which had been suspended due to the Corona disaster, was lifted. Fumio Kishida greeted the day as the 27th president of the Liberal Democratic Party and the 100th prime minister.

The participants of the party were said to be nervous, wondering whether the party would be held as scheduled on the first day of the extraordinary Diet session, an important day for the nomination of the party’s leader.

“We bought 10 party tickets for 20,000 yen, but we also sent 500,000 yen as a congratulatory gift. We bought 10 party tickets for 20,000 yen, but we also gave 500,000 yen as a congratulatory gift, and some companies related to the electric power industry gave 1 million yen and even more. At a rough estimate, new Prime Minister Kishida must have collected more than 50 million yen at this party,” said a company executive who attended the party.

“The fee to attend the “Meeting to Discuss National Politics with Fumio Kishida” is 20,000 yen per ticket. It is called a seminar, but in reality it is no different from a political fundraiser. Politicians who have won power can easily raise a lot of money in an instant.

Hotel’s special retort curry as a souvenir

“Normally, a boxed lunch costing about 2,000 yen, or about 10% of the price of the party ticket, was provided, but this time it was just a retort of curry soup as a souvenir.

I thought he would at least give lip service to the backstory of the presidential election, but he just kept repeating what he had said so far for 30 minutes. Even though his position had changed, Mr. Kishida was still the same ‘uninteresting Mr. Kishida,’ which brought to mind the face of former Prime Minister Kan, who resigned because of his failure to communicate.

At the usual “Kishida breakfast meeting,” the yawn-inducing talk goes on for an hour. The usual Kishida breakfast meeting goes on for an hour with yawn-inducing talks, and only in the early morning do some people really fall asleep. “One of the participants said, ” This morning’s meeting lasted only 30 minutes.

“One of my seniors from Waseda University, who had served as the head of the Youth Bureau and as a parliamentary agitator, was former Prime Minister Noboru Takeshita and former Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu. I had the same experience, so I wondered if it was possible. The jinx came true and I became the Prime Minister. Thanks to all of you, I have been entrusted with a major position. I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude.

When the secretary of the MC said this in front of several hundred people, the new Prime Minister, who looked like he was wearing a Noh mask, raised the corners of his mouth faintly, and the venue erupted in thunderous applause. This was said to be the climax of the meeting. After that, the tone immediately dropped.

I’m sure that the earnest voices he heard from the people, who were exhausted and impoverished by the Corona disaster, were recorded in his secret “People’s Voice Notebook,” which he never shared with anyone.

The question is whether the Kishida administration will be able to continue its “Kishida politics” with this team, which has been handing over key posts to the Hosoda and Aso factions in order to stabilize the government. There are a lot of questions, but I hope that he will be able to achieve the growth policies that the Abe and Kan administrations were unable to achieve.

Incidentally, a “jinx” is essentially a “bad omen.