Ex-health chief Kato announces bid to lead Japan ruling party

Former health minister Katsunobu Kato on Tuesday announced his candidacy for the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s upcoming leadership election, making a pledge to double people’s incomes and boost the Japanese economy.

Kato, 68, who served as chief Cabinet secretary under former Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, is the eighth candidate to join the Sept. 27 race to succeed Fumio Kishida, whose administration faced falling public support in the wake of a slush funds scandal.

“The utmost priority is to double people’s incomes. There is no policy that is more important than this,” Kato told a press conference as he announced his first-ever bid to become LDP chief.

Despite some positive developments, Japan’s economy is “in a more severe state than people think,” he said, adding that his income-doubling plan will likely take “10 to 15 years.”

Former Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato attends a press conference in Tokyo on Sept. 10, 2024, announcing his candidacy in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s leadership election on Sept. 27. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

Wage growth is key for Japan, which lost its status as the world’s third-largest economy to Germany last year, to “step on the gas” toward ending deflation, a goal the former Finance ministry bureaucrat said “is just around the corner.”

If elected LDP president and therefore prime minister, he pledged to craft an economic package and a “bold” supplementary budget that will create an environment to encourage wage growth, innovation and aid areas hit by natural disasters.

Kishida decided not to seek reelection beyond his current three-year term at the end of September, stressing the need for the LDP to change under new leadership.

Kato vowed to reform the LDP to restore public trust and make the use of political funds more transparent.

Kato, who had close ties with Shinzo Abe, the late former premier known for his hawkish views, said he will realize the LDP’s goal of amending the war-renouncing pacifist Constitution.

But he sounded cautious about allowing the use of different surnames by married couples, a divisive issue for the LDP that places importance on what it sees as traditional family values.

The election will be the first since most of the LDP’s factions, which have exerted significant influence on intraparty policymaking, decided to disband due to increased public scrutiny after the political funds scandal, in which factions amassed slush funds through fundraising parties.

Kato is from a faction led by LDP Secretary General Toshimitsu Motegi, 68, who has already announced his bid.

The other candidates are former economic security minister Takayuki Kobayashi, 49, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba, 67, Digital Minister Taro Kono, 61, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi, 63, former Environment Minister Shinjiro Koizumi, 43, and former economic security chief Sanae Takaichi, 63.