Japan’s next prime minister faces big challenge as he tries to move past ruling party scandals

TOKYO —  The person chosen Friday to lead Japan’s governing party, and become prime minister next week, is a veteran politician with deep policy experience, a taste for curry and anime — and big challenges ahead of him as he tries to unite a fractious party and hold off an opposition eager to capitalize on recent corruption scandals.

Shigeru Ishiba has long been popular with voters but has often struggled to win over his conservative fellow Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers.

A vocal critic of the hawkish politics of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, he was long seen as a troublesome outsider by some party members. That makes Friday’s victory a huge comeback for Ishiba. It could also signal a break from years of Abe’s influence over the party, even after the former prime minister’s assassination.

Some analysts believe that Ishiba was chosen as much for his image as a centrist who can counter challenges by the more liberal main opposition party as for his policy views. The 67-year-old former banker was running in the party leadership race for a fifth time and had said this was going to be his “final battle.”

Ishiba, who was first elected to parliament in 1986, has served as defense minister, agriculture minister and in other key Cabinet posts, and as the LDP secretary general under Abe.

Considered a defense policy expert, Ishiba has proposed an Asian version of the NATO military alliance and a more equal and mutual Japan-U.S. security alliance, including having Japanese Self Defense Force bases in the United States.

“Mr. Ishiba has ideas about security that may go beyond what the United States expects from Japan, like an Asian version of NATO,” said Masato Kamikubo, a political science professor at Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto. “But I don’t think there will be a change in Japan-U.S. diplomatic and security relations.”

Ishiba is a supporter of Taiwan’ s democracy. He supports legalizing same-sex marriage and has vowed to push for more diversity and gender equality. He supports a revision to a 19th century civil code that requires married couples to choose one of their surnames. That has caused most women to adopt their husband’s surname. Moves to change the code have stalled for decades because of LDP opposition.

At a recent speech in Tokyo, Ishiba said Japanese women are among the shortest sleepers in the world because of their heavy responsibilities both at work and home. He said most husbands, including himself, hardly help with childrearing and homemaking.

Yamaguchi writes for the Associated Press.