Kishida comes full circle in policy speech with emphasis on ‘power’

At a time of languishing approval ratings and soul-searching for the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida made “power” the key leitmotif of his policy speech in parliament on Tuesday.

He emphasized the “power of bonds” on full display in the country’s response to the earthquake that devastated the Noto Peninsula on New Year’s Day and how it became a “new power” for the future, as well as the foundation of Japan’s rural revitalization.

For the man who, over two years ago, reached the party’s (and the country’s) leadership trumpeting his “listening” power, it’s a rhetorical homecoming.