The former swimsuit model hoping to lift Japan’s wobbly opposition
The rise of half-Taiwanese Renho has already struck a blow for women and haafu, but the sternest test is yet to come – rebuilding the toxic image of the Democratic Party
She is poised, elegant and has both an easy smile and a degree of empathy that are rare in a Japanese politician of any hue. But even if Renho – half-Taiwanese and a former swimsuit model – wins the election to head the Democratic Party, all her attributes are unlikely to be sufficient to lift the nation’s largest opposition to power in the immediate future.
Such has been the damage inflicted on a political organisation that deposed the Liberal Democratic Party in 2009; the political capital was squandered in just three years and three months and left the party flailing around for coherent policies, ideas and – most importantly – a leader.
The rebel known as Renho
The party, which dropped the “of Japan” from its full name in March, was founded in September 1996 as an alliance of left-of-centre politicians and peaked in popularity with the 2009 election victory. In the July 2016 poll for the House of Councillors, the party took only 21 per cent of the vote and lost 11 seats to leave it with just 49 members in the house. In the most recent vote for the lower house, in December 2014, the Democratic Party won 73 of the 475 seats.
By turning to 48-year-old Renho, an outsider in many senses, the party may be taking its first steps on the path of rebuilding its reputation and support base.
The latest public opinion polls give Renho – whose full name is Renho Murata but who prefers to go by just one name – the support of 32 per cent of the public, significantly ahead of her closest rival, Seiji Maehara, a former foreign minister, on 19 per cent. Only 4 per cent expressed support for Yuichiro Tamaki, a member of the House of Representatives.
