Liberal Democratic Party presidential hopeful Sanae Takaichi, strongly backed by former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the party's conservative wing, established her campaign headquarters Tuesday in the Diet Building.
Takaichi, a former internal affairs and communications minister, is known as one of the most conservative LDP members, calling for highly conservative policies, such as maintaining male-only Imperial succession, visiting Yasukuni Shrine, and the possession of precision-guided missiles and drones. The shrine, which enshrines Class-A World War II criminals along with the war dead, is considered a symbol of Japan's past militarism, particularly in China and Korea.
The expectation now is that Takaichi will come up with policies to support women and ordinary citizens to gain broader support in addition to her conservative base.
"I want to rebuild the tattered economy," Takaichi said as she inaugurated the headquarters. "I want to compile a supplementary budget as soon as possible to send financial assistance to people in significant financial distress."
Takaichi emphasized her support for people who have lost jobs, had pay cuts or suffered other financial difficulties because of the pandemic.
A slew of LDP conservatives were among the 39 Diet members who attended the inauguration.
Takaichi appointed Keiji Furuya, former chairperson of the National Public Safety Commission, to run the headquarters. Minoru Kihara, a special adviser to the prime minister, was appointed as chief secretary and House of Representatives member Minoru Kiuchi became secretary general.
Furuya said Takaichi is the only candidate from the party's conservative wing, but added: "The false label that she leans to the right is disappearing. She has policies with the weak in mind."
The Takaichi camp is believed to be publicizing that she cares for a wide range of people as it determined that she cannot garner broad support by continuing to stick to the conservative line.
"Many people work while raising children or looking after family members, and I'm one of those who had a hard time doing so," Takaichi said on a Nippon TV program the same day.
While introducing her tax credit policies for those who use babysitting or housework support services, Takaichi also talked about her involvement in efforts to help people take out the garbage.
Abe, Takaichi's most notable supporter, did not appear at the campaign headquarters' inauguration.
The previous prime minister came from the faction led by Hiroyuki Hosoda, which has 96 members, so his backing boosts Takaichi in her quest to gain support from the LDP's largest faction. There are concerns, however, that people may doubt her credentials as a breath of fresh air for the LDP if Abe is prominent.
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