Japan's top government spokesman Yoshihide Suga yesterday described himself as "an ordinary person" who rose against the odds and can be an inspirational tale were he to become prime minister.
"I won my first election at the age of 47, starting from zero with no blood ties," he said. "And now I'm aiming to become prime minister. Even an ordinary person like myself can have such ambitions if they make an effort."
The race to become leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) - and hence the country's prime minister, as the LDP has a majority in the Diet - officially kicked off with the challengers filing their candidacy papers.
The LDP will choose a successor next Monday to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who abruptly resigned last month over a chronic digestive ailment. The victor will be inaugurated in the Diet next Wednesday.
Mr Suga, 71, has two challengers for the top post: former defence chief Shigeru Ishiba, 63; and former foreign minister Fumio Kishida, 63.
But Mr Suga - Mr Abe's trusty lieutenant since he came to power in December 2012 and who is now his preferred successor - is the runaway favourite, having won the backing of more than 70 per cent of the LDP's lawmakers.
Should Mr Suga become prime minister, the native of Akita prefecture and son of strawberry farmers will be a rare Japanese leader who is not a political blue-blood.
Mr Ishiba's father was governor of their native Tottori prefecture while Mr Kishida's father and grandfather were former MPs.
Mr Suga has presented himself as the ideal continuity candidate for the years of stability that Mr Abe has brought to volatile Japanese politics, vowing to follow the outgoing leader's footsteps in raising Japan's diplomatic profile and to continue the Abenomics brand of economic policies to stimulate growth.
But he distanced himself from the faults of Mr Abe's administration, especially the concentration of power in the Prime Minister's Office that has been blamed for a spate of cronyism scandals and document-tampering by bureaucrats allegedly trying to curry favour.
He also said he will create a digital agency, noting that the Covid-19 crisis has exposed how woefully lacking Japan is in its digital push. Among other things, the new body will promote online learning, telemedicine and paperless administrative processes.
Mr Suga, who has no factional affiliation, promised to move away from the practice of "rewarding" loyalists with ministerial posts or following a "Cabinet wait list" based on parliamentary seniority, instead giving priority to reform-minded people and subject experts.
Mr Ishiba described himself as "brutally honest and tactless to a fault". He called for a disaster management agency to be established, and to promote rural revitalisation.
And Mr Kishida framed himself as a relatable candidate who has endured multiple failures, including failing his university entrance examination three times. Noting that the benefits of Abenomics have not been felt by those in the middle-income group and in rural areas, he vowed to tackle growing inequality.
