TOKYO: Japan's main opposition party on Tuesday elected its 47-year-old policy chief as leader, as it tries to regroup following a disappointing electoral performance against the country's long-ruling conservatives.
Kenta Izumi, who is far from a household name in Japan, takes the helm of the Constitutional Democratic Party after its celebrated founder Yukio Edano stepped down over poor results in October's election.
Izumi faces the difficult task of uniting Japan's fractured opposition bloc in the face of the Liberal Democratic Party, which has ruled Japan for nearly all of the past seven decades.
He has pledged to strengthen programmes to assist the poor and needy in an apparent effort to draw a contrast with the ruling party's generally pro-business policies. "We will conduct politics that are people-centred," he said.
The eight-term lawmaker, who beat three candidates for the leadership job, won his first lower house seat at age 29, unusually young in Japan.
The father of three was born in northern Hokkaido and represents a district in Kyoto where he went to college and began working as a staff member for a local politician.
Japan's opposition had been hopeful that they could capitalise in October's vote on public discontent with the ruling party's virus response after a summer infection surge. But instead, the LDP under new Prime Minister Fumio Kishida secured a strong majority.
FIRST CASE OF OMICRON: Meanwhile, the new Omicron variant of the coronavirus has been detected in Japan for the first time.
An arrival from Namibia who entered Japan via Tokyo's Narita airport on Sunday has tested positive for the coronavirus, Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno was quoted as saying by the Kyodo news agency on Tuesday.
An examination of virus samples by the national institute for infectious diseases had identified the new variant, he said. The Omicron variant, which was first detected in South Africa, has sparked international concern and led to a series of travel restrictions for travellers from the region.
Japan on Tuesday reintroduced an entry ban for foreigners. The measure is to stay in force for at least a month, according to Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. - AFP/dpa
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