In the public eye for being the face of the "Reiwa" announcement, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga is becoming a focus of attention as a possible successor to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
Campaigning for the unified local elections Saturday afternoon, Suga mentioned he had announced the new era name during a speech in front of JR Sapporo Station.
At the sound of "Reiwa," many in the crowd of over 1,000 listeners raised their smartphones in his direction. After the speech he was swamped by the public -- a sign of rising Suga fever.
Since the start of Abe's second administration, Suga has seen himself as the prime minister's behind-the-scenes fixer, according to a source close to him. During the era name announcement however, the spotlight shone more on Suga than Abe.
The night before the announcement, Suga apparently practiced lifting up a frame to show the new era name's characters in the press room at the Prime Minister's Office. The paper in the practice frame reportedly had the characters for "Heisei" written on it.
Suga has used the Cabinet Bureau of Personnel Affairs -- which oversees staffing for senior ministry and agency officials -- to promote policies under Abe's platform and increase his own influence within the administration.
For instance, after he suggested that cellular communications fees "could be lowered by about 40 percent" and urged major mobile carriers to lower their rates, NTT Docomo Inc. announced it would cut communication charges by 20 to 40 percent this fiscal year.
Suga also helped cut through opposition among the ministries and agencies to the administration's plan to successfully revise the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Law in order to increase the number of foreign workers.
He plans to visit the United States in May to meet with U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, expanding his role to the diplomatic stage.
Suga, 70, has emphasized he is "not thinking at all about becoming prime minister."
However, there is a precedent -- Keizo Obuchi was the chief cabinet secretary who had announced "Heisei" as the current era name, and he went on to become prime minister.
Liberal Democratic Party factions with leading "post-Abe" candidates are becoming increasingly wary of Suga's moves.
"It's unavoidable that Suga's influence will rise to another level as we move toward an election for the LDP president," said a senior member of former LDP Secretary General Shigeru Ishiba's faction.
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