As a man who was raised in Hiroshima, Fumio Kishida is opposed to the use of nuclear weapons. In 2014, he wrote an article calling on world leaders to visit Hiroshima and Nagasaki to witness the impact of nuclear bombs.
By
KRIS MADA
·6 minutes read
AFP/DU XIAOYI
Fumio Kishida, former foreign minister, speaks during a press conference after being elected as the new leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), at the LDP headquarters in Tokyo on September 29, 2021.
Fumio Kishida, 64, has finally taken up the office desired by all Japanese politicians, that of the prime minister. Known as a calm and modest figure, he was once the victim of racism as a child. A native of Hiroshima, he is against nuclear weapons.
Kishida’s road to the Japanese premiership was cleared after he won the election for General Chairman of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) on Wednesday (29/9/2021). The seat of Prime Minister (PM) has for decades been occupied by the General Chairman of the LDP, which has majority control of the House of Representatives, the lower house of the Japanese parliament that will hold a special session to install Kishida as the new PM. Kishida’s appointment will later receive the formal recognition of Emperor Naruhito.
Kishida’s political journey, including the path to the country’s premiership, shows that he does not give in to failure in his endeavors. Kishida ran for the LDP’s general chairmanship in September 2020, but lost his bid. Yet he refused to give up and made his second bid in September 2021. This time he won.
One of the causes of his failed bid in 2020 was strong criticism over a photograph of him eating while standing as his wife Yuko serves him food. Instead of gaining sympathy for showing close family interaction, the photograph cost Kishida political support.
The other failure in Kishida’s life was three unsuccessful applications to Tokyo University. He eventually gained admission to the Waseda University law school, which he graduated in 1982. One of his fellow students was Takeshi Iwaya, who would go on to become Defense Minister and a member of parliament for several terms.
Graduating from Waseda, Kishida worked for the Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan, Ltd. until 1987, when he entered the world of politics as a secretary for his father, Fumitake, a former parliamentary member. Kishida’s grandfather, Masaki, had also been a parliamentary member, as had Kishida’s distant relatives from the Miyazawa family line.
AP PHOTO/EUGENE HOSHIKO
A pedestrian looks at a public TV showing Fumio Kishida, former foreign minister, with a live broadcast of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP}\'s presidential election Wednesday, Sept. 29, 2021, in Tokyo. Kishida has won the governing party leadership election and is set to become the next prime minister. The Japanese letters read: "Fumio Kishida new LDP president."
One of Masaki’s daughters married Hiroshi Miyazawa, former governor of Hiroshima and defense minister. Hiroshi’s son Yoichi has been a member of parliament since 2000 and was once trade minister. Hiroshi’s older brother, Kiichi, even rose to the seat of Japanese PM.
The LDP lost the 1993 election under Kiichi Miyazawa’s leadership. In the same election, Kishida was elected for the first time as the parliamentary representative of Hiroshima. Although he was born in Tokyo, Kishida had been raised in Hiroshima.
Kishida lived almost four years in New York, the United States, when his father was assigned there in the 1960s. He lived and attended school in the Queens area. As a Japanese in a majority Hispanic and African-American neighborhood, he became a target of racism. This fact was one of the factors that awakened Kishida to the issue of justice.
He has pursued his ideas about justice at the lower house of parliament, and they are now part of his program as PM. He has maintained his parliamentary membership as he assumes his role of PM, partly because of his continued promotion of a coalition government.
Kishida is a top figure of the Kochikai, a faction within the LDP. The fection was founded by former PM Hayato Ikeda. Aside from Ikeda and Kishida, former PMs that hailed from the Kochika are Kiichi Miyazawa, Masayoshi Ohira and Zenko Suzuki.
Kishida is also affiliated with the nationalist nongovernmental organization, Nippon Kaigi. The conservative group has often voiced anti-Chinese sentiments. During his election campaign for the LDP general chairmanship, Kishida frequently stressed his desire to adopt a tough stance towards China.
CARL COURT/POOL PHOTO VIA AP
Japanese former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida, right, celebrates with outgoing Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga after being announced the winner of the Liberal Democrat Party leadership election in Tokyo Wednesday, Sept. 29, 2021.
Diplomatic tricks
As a man who was raised in Hiroshima, one of two Japanese cities that were targeted by a nuclear bomb, Kishida is opposed to the use of nuclear weapons. In 2014, he wrote an article calling on world leaders to visit Hiroshima and Nagasaki to witness the impact of nuclear bombs. “For me, Hibakusha (survivors of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki nuclear bombings) and those who died in the nuclear bombings are very real,” he said.
As the Foreign Affairs Minister, he succeeded in inviting a world leader to visit Hiroshima. In 2015, US President Barack Obama visited the city that US forces had destroyed in World War II.
Kishida said he had heard many accounts about the devastating effects of the nuclear bomb from his grandmother. He was born 12 years after the US dropped nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
His opposition to nuclear weapons was also shown during his bid for the LDP general chairmanship in 2021. In his election campaign, he emphasized that Japan did not need nuclear submarines. He made the statement after Australia, the United Kingdom and the US formed the AUKUS military alliance. One of the alliance’s aims is to help Australia procure eight nuclear submarines.
Despite his opposition to nuclear weapons, he supports Japan’s position against signing the United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
Despite his opposition to nuclear weapons, he supports Japan’s position against signing the United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). He also supports nuclear power as an energy source for peaceful purposes. For him, nuclear power plants (PLTN) are a rational choice to achieve the goals of controlling the impacts of climate change while meeting the energy demand. He endorses the use of PLTNs and reactivation of PLTNs that had been suspended for various reasons.
He is calm in explaining his support for PLTNs. Kishida is in fact known as a calm politician who is rarely agitated and has a flair for “tricks” of diplomacy.
One of his “tricks” was a sake and vodka drinking contest he held with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, through which he developed close ties to Lavrov. Unlike Yoshihide Suga, whom he replaces as LDP general chairman and Japanese PM, Kishida is an avid drinker of alcoholic beverages. Nonetheless, he is neither a drunkard nor alcoholic.
The Kishida family has close links to alcohol, as his wife’s extended family owns a sake factory. For many Japanese people, sake is one of the components of social occasions. Kishida, his wife and three children live in Tokyo. At home, Kishida regularly washes dishes and cleans the floor.
(AFP/REUTERS)
Fumio Kishida
Born: Tokyo, 29 July 1957
Positions:
- Prime Minister of Japan (2021)
- Member, House of Representatives, National Diet of Japan (1993-present)
