Yoshihide Suga, Japan’s longest-serving Chief Cabinet Secretary was elected president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), was made the new Prime Minister on September 16. What makes Yoshihide Suga different from other political leaders is unlike other leaders, he doesn’t belong to a dynasty family but is a self-made man.
Who Is Yoshihide Suga?
Born in 1984, Suga was born to a strawberry farmer and a schoolteacher in rural Japan. He worked in the fields as a child and went on to enrol at the Hosei University in 1969. During his university days, Suga showed interest in student protests against the security alliance between Japan and the US. He gradually became interested in politics and successfully ran for the Yokohama city assembly in 1987 and entered national politics in 1996.
According to the reports by The Mainichi, he was unknown till April 2019 and unveiled the name of the new imperial era that earned him the nickname “Uncle Reiwa”. Yoshihide Suga is better known as Shinzo Abe’s ‘right hand’ in politics.
Shinzo Abe, Japan’s Prime Minister, the country’s longest-serving leader, resigned from his position citing health issues. On Monday, Suga was decided to take Abe’s place. He was formally named as Japan’s Prime Minister on September 16.
What is Suga’s Vision?
In an interview given to Japan Times on Saturday, Suga shared his vision as the Prime Minister. He said that his first aim is to amend the constitution which has not been amended since 1947. This was Abe’s long-held goal too. Secondly, he talked about protecting jobs and people’s livelihoods, defending Japan’s national interests and focusing on the Japan-US alliance as the basis of the foundation of the country’s security, in line with Abe’s vision. He also promised to continue working on Abe’s policy “Abenomics” that focused on Japan’s economic revival and combined structural reform, monetary easing and fiscal expansion, with the goal to increase domestic demand.
