Japan for the first time has a chance of a female prime minister in Yuriko Koike, but feminists are skeptical on whether she would do the country’s women any good.
Koike has hinted she may run in the Sept. 22 race within the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) to replace unpopular Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, who abruptly resigned last Monday.
The former TV anchorwoman would be the first woman to seek the prime minister’s post in male-dominated Japan, which has some of the world’s lowest rates of female representation in politics and business.
PHOTO: AFP
“I welcome a female candidate running in the election — generally speaking,” said Mitsuko Shimomura, a journalist and one of the founders of Win Win, a lobby for female politicians similar to the US Emily’s List.
“But her bid to become the first woman prime minister would do nothing to increase the social standing of Japanese women,” she said. “Many women around me feel sick to their back teeth.”
“As a politician, Ms Koike has never been enthusiastic about improving women’s social status as that agenda turns off men,” she said.
Koike, 56, who speaks fluent English and Arabic, made her name as an environment minister and an expert on foreign policy, rarely stressing her gender.
In an oblique reference during her brief tenure as defense minister last year, Koike likened herself to US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and told a US audience to call her “Madam Sushi” — a joke that fell flat back home.
Koike entered politics in 1992 and has faced criticism for cozying up to those in power at the time.
She was initially a protegee of Ichiro Ozawa, then an LDP heavyweight and now chief of a resurgent opposition — which hopes to defeat the long-dominant but now ailing ruling party in approaching general elections.
After a turbulent political decade, Koike entered the LDP in 2002.
Her latest political patron was reformist prime minister Junichiro Koizumi, who was popular during his 2001-2006 tenure. Koike now belongs to the largest faction in the LDP, along with Koizumi and many other party heavyweights.
Koike’s shrewdness was illustrated in the 2005 general election when she volunteered to switch her constituency and ran as an “assassin” candidate against an LDP member.
Kanako Otsuji, an opposition member who made an unsuccessful bid last year to be Japan’s first openly lesbian member of parliament, welcomed Koike’s bid as a move to break Japan’s glass ceiling.
“What’s important is that people physically see a woman stand as prime minister in parliament and answer questions from the opposition,” Otsuji said. “It’s a different story on whether she would uphold policies that are good for women.”
Also See: Japan’s rapid succession of prime ministers belies its global role
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was