“Iron Ladies” on the March: Is Japan Keeping Pace with Asia?

Over the last few days, two women took over important political offices in Japan.Yuriko Koike won the Mayoral elections in Tokyo; in the past, Ms. Koike held the office of Minister of the Environment in Junichiro Koizumi’s government, and the office of Minister of Defence in Shinzo Abe’s very first government in 2007. In Shinzo Abe’s new government, post-electoral reshuffling saw Tomomi Inada appointed the Minister of Defence on August 3; previously, she was the Chairwoman of the Policy Research Council of the Liberal Democratic Party; she had also been mentioned among Mr. Abe’s possible successors. In the history of Japan, only two women have held the office of Minister of Defence: Ms. Koike and Ms. Inada; and Ms. Koike has now also become Japan’s first female mayor of Tokyo. Both ladies belong to the conservative organisation Nippon Kaigi, both support a revision of the Constitution and both are known as “iron ladies.”

The Asian Studies blog considers these appointments in Japan’s domestic context and in the pan-Asian context of changes in the gender imbalance.

REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon

Yuriko Koike

Many things make Ms. Koike an unusual Japanese politician, in particular, her inclination “to go against the flow.” Unlike many politicians who graduated from prestigious Tokyo universities, she chose to complete her studies at Cairo University in Egypt and Kwansei Gakuin University in Osaka. Ms. Koike became a trailblazer among women when she ran for the chairmanship of the Liberal Democratic Party in 2008. Back then Ms. Koike said that if in the US, in the words of Hillary Clinton, career-minded women hit an invisible glass ceiling which holds them back, in Japan, they hit a cast-iron slab. The internal party elections were ultimately won by Taro Aso who is the current Minister of Finance, and Ms. Koike came in third. During the Crimea events of 2014, Ms. Koike, known for her ‘hawkish’ political views, attempted to distance herself from the initially moderate stance of the Japanese leaders and published an article where she reminded her audience that 60% of the post-war Iturup population had Ukrainian ancestry, and posed the question of a hypothetical independence referendum on the island which Japan currently claims. Ms. Koike won the mayoral race despite a lack of support from the LDP, which supported her opponent. Such a victory demonstrates both her ambitions and her potential to govern the 13 million-strong megapolis (this figure excludes agglomeration) which accounts for about 1/6 of Japan’s GDP and is preparing to host the 2020 Olympics.

Tomomi Inada, the new Minister of Defense and a member of Mr. Abe’s team, has stated many times that the number of female managers in both politics and business should be increased (the so-called “womenomics”). Russian analysts know Ms. Inada from her April visit to Moscow when, among other things, she delivered a lecture at MGIMO ahead of the Russian-Japanese informal summit in Sochi. Besides, in February 2016, Ms. Inada took part in the Russian-Japan Commerce and Industry Dialog where she met with Denis Manturov, the Minister of Industry and Trade. In Asia, Ms. Inada is perceived mostly as a conservative “hawk,” who goes to the Shinto Yasukuni Shrine^[1]; which bodes for a wary attitude to her on the part of both China and South Korea. Yuriko Koike also goes to the Yasukuni Shrine.

It is worth stating that both women were Minister of Defense under Shinzo Abe, albeit in two different governments. Incidentally, the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has also had only two female heads, namely Makiko Tanaka and Yoriko Kawaguchi, both under Mr. Abe’s predecessor Mr. Koizumi. This time around, Mr. Abe did not appoint a new Minister of Foreign Affairs: Fumio Kishida, also considered to be among Abe’s potential successors, remains in office to continue settling relations with Russia and other neighbouring countries.

REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon

Tomomi Inada

Besides Ms. Inada, there are two more women in the new Japanese government, and, like Ms. Inada and Ms. Koike, they are also members of the conservative Nippon Kaigi. Sanae Takaichi retained the office of the Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications, and Tamayo Marukawa was appointed to supervise the preparations for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, where she will have to work together with Ms. Koike. One might also recall that, in September 2015, the Prime Minister’s only possible competitor for the chairmanship of the LDP was Seiko Noda, but she did not receive enough support from within the party. The next day after Mr. Abe’s reshuffling of the government, Renho Murata, who is of Taiwanese origin and acting President of the largest opposition party, the Democratic party, decided to run for the its presidency. Ms. Murata is a Japanese politician of Taiwanese origin. It would not be an exaggeration to say that Ms. Koike could use the office of the Mayor of Tokyo as a springboard to stake her claim for the office of the Prime Minister, which does not exclude the possibility of competition from Ms. Inada, as well as other candidates. To compare, when Mr. Koizumi’s potential successors were discussed in 2006, all the potential candidates were men.

The success of female politicians in Japan fit in with the overall global trend. In Europe, the number of female defence ministers became the talk of the town, while Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and then Great Britain’s new Prime Minister Theresa May were constantly in the news after Brexit. In East Asia women in government are a phenomenon of the last 10 years. In the mid-2000s, Wu Yi, Minister of Health and Vice Premier of China, gained a reputation as a hard-line international negotiator, and, in early 2016, Tsai Ing-wen became Taiwan’s first female President. Since 2013, South Korea has been headed by Park Geun-hye, and, until the coup of 2014, Thailand’s Prime Minister was Yingluck Shinawatra. In Myanmar, the special office of State Counsellor was created in 2016 for Aung San Suu Kyi, who won the elections but could not hold the office of President because of her husband’s and children’s foreign citizenship. From 2010 to 2013, Julia Gillard was Australia’s Prime Minister, and, since 2013, Julie Bishop has served as Australia’s first female Minister for Foreign Affairs. Among other things, she was noted for her “emoji” diplomacy criticised by Senator Penny Wong, who, in her own career, had become the first Australian government member of Asian origin and Australia’s first openly gay federal-level politician. If Hillary Clinton wins the US elections, Asia Pacific summits will almost achieve gender parity. Time will tell whether the iron ladies of Asia Pacific, many of whom are considered conservatives or ‘hawks’, will be able to reach an agreement among themselves. Maybe by that time, the Japanese womenomics will no longer be limited to Mrs. Watanabes, which is the economists’ conventional name for housewives, who make decisions regarding the family budget. As of now, specialists in Asian and gender studies now have even more subjects to discuss.