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
A humanoid robot that won a half-marathon race for robots in Beijing on Sunday ran faster than the human world record in a show of China’s technological leaps. The winner from Honor, a Chinese smartphone maker, completed the 21km race in 50 minutes and 26 seconds, said a WeChat post by the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area, also known as Beijing E-Town, where the race began. That was faster than the human world record holder, Ugandan Jacob Kiplimo, who finished the same distance in about 57 minutes in March at the Lisbon road race. The performance by the robot marked a significant step forward
Four contenders are squaring up to succeed Antonio Guterres as secretary-general of the UN, which faces unprecedented global instability, wars and its own crushing budget crisis. Chile’s Michelle Bachelet, Argentina’s Rafael Grossi, Costa Rica’s Rebeca Grynspan and Senegal’s Macky Sall are each to face grillings by 193 member states and non-governmental organizations for three hours today and tomorrow. It is only the second time the UN has held a public question-and-answer, a format created in 2016 to boost transparency. Ultimately the five permanent members of the UN’s top body, the Security Council, hold the power, wielding vetoes over who leads the
An earthquake registering a preliminary magnitude of 7.7 off northern Japan on Monday prompted a short-lived tsunami alert and the advisory of a higher risk of a possible mega-quake for coastal areas there. The Cabinet Office and the Japan Meteorological Agency said there was a 1% chance for a mega-quake, compared to a 0.1% chance during normal times, in the next week or so following the powerful quake near the Chishima and Japan trenches. Officials said the advisory was not a quake prediction but urged residents in 182 towns along the northeastern coasts to raise their preparedness while continuing their daily lives. Prime
HAZARDOUS CONDITION: The typhoon’s sheer size, with winds extending 443km from its center, slowed down the ability of responders to help communities, an official said The US Coast Guard was searching for six people after losing contact with their disabled boat off the coast of Guam following Typhoon Sinlaku. The crew of the 44m dry cargo vessel, the US-registered Mariana, on Wednesday notified the coast guard that the boat had lost its starboard engine and needed assistance, Petty Officer 3rd Class Avery Tibbets said yesterday. The coast guard set up a one-hour communication schedule with the vessel, but lost contact on Thursday. A Coast Guard HC-130 Hercules aircraft was launched to search for the six people on board, but it had to return to Guam because of
RSS