‘Lipstick Ninja’ lays foundation for Japanese election shock
SHE is a former TV news anchor whose antiestablishment populism and impeccable mastery of political theatre have propelled her to the upper echelons of a male-dominated world.
Now, Yuriko Koike, the governor of Tokyo known as the ‘Lipstick Ninja’ and perhaps Japan’s most powerful woman, is at the starting line of the biggest race of her political life to date: today’s launch of Japan’s national election campaign.
Ms Koike (65) shook up Japan’s political world less than two weeks ago with the launch of her Party of Hope (Kibo no To), promising to balance bold reform with a conservative ethos.
Shinzo Abe, the prime minister, called the snap election last month, confident at the time that the vote would shore up support for his strong stance against North Korea.
Both the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and the Party of Hope support a rewriting of the nation’s 70-year-old pacifist constitution, amid rising regional tensions over North Korea and assertive manoeuvring from Beijing.
But what has defined Ms Koike’s platform is a string of populist goals – more precisely, what she has called the 12 zeros, which include pledges to slash a range of issues to zero, from the number of nuclear power plants to putting down unwanted pets.
She is also promising to freeze a planned 2019 sales tax hike and is considering a new tax on companies’ retained earnings.
“If I use a golf course metaphor, right now, I believe we have right (wing parties) and left (wing parties) and nothing in between. So we will present ourselves as the fairway, the very centre of the way,” Ms Koike told a policy debate by major party leaders.
Ms Koike has said consistently that she will not run for a seat in the elections, meaning that she would not become prime minister even if her party won the election. However, a further theatrical twist cannot yet be ruled out.
Ms Koike declined to reveal who would lead a government should her party, formed only about two weeks ago by her supporters and some opposition lawmakers, be in a position to form one.
“I will think about it after we see the results of the election,” she said.
Mr Abe reiterated during the debate his government would remain in power if the ruling coalition wins a simple majority of the 465 seats up for grabs, although some analysts suggest he himself could face pressure to resign if his LDP fares badly.