Sunday’s general election underscored anew the plight of overseas voters, whose abilities to vote were compromised like never before by the pandemic and Kishida’s election strategy.
Election officials acknowledged that the incident occurred due to insufficient checks as they were in a hurry to deal with an onslaught of people casting early ballots.
Kishida has laid out pressing foreign policy priorities from a tougher stance on China to bolstering the U.S.-Japan alliance. But don’t expect radical changes from the new leader.
The onetime "shadow shogun," a skilled strategist and political operator, was arguably Japan’s most consequential and divisive politician during the Heisei Era.