Following a visit to Ise Grand Shrine in Mie Prefecture in western Japan, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida gives a New Year's press conference in the Mie Prefecture city of Ise on Jan. 4, 2022. (Pool photo)

       TOKYO -- The administration of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Jan. 4 reached the 3-month mark since its launch. So far it has pursued a bottom-up approach that tries to hear bureaucrats' voices -- a dramatic shift from the top-down approach to decision-making processes characteristic of the preceding administrations of prime ministers Yoshihide Suga and Shinzo Abe.

       But this change has led to frequent confusion, including on the government's response to the coronavirus crisis. Prime Minister Kishida seems to still be grasping for the vision of the leader he wants to become.

       At a Jan. 4 New Year's press conference, the prime minister explained his basic approach to government administration. "When pushing forward with policy, the important thing is to have trust and empathy with the public," he said. "One must listen to many voices, and when necessary, make decisions resolutely."

       During the around nine years of the Abe and Suga administrations, policies were realized from the top -- the prime minister's office -- down. This included decision-making on foreign diplomatic policy by the National Security Council (NSC) and the acceleration of coronavirus vaccinations. It has been pointed out that those nine years had a chilling effect on bureaucrats, and that a sense of accountability to the public atrophied. Kishida stresses his "ability to listen" because of the lessons learned from those past administrations.

       Since its establishment, the Kishida administration has held a series of face-to-face group discussions with people on the ground based on policy issues. At press conferences, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno frequently directs reporters to ask specific government ministries and agencies for details; it is striking how many fine points of policy management are left to the bureaucracy.

       During a November 2019 television appearance, Kishida was asked what he wanted to do most, and he responded, "personnel reshuffling." At the time, he had been criticized for "lacking a clear state vision," but a former Cabinet member close to the prime minister explained to the Mainichi Shimbun, "(The prime minister) does not want to make all decisions on his own, but rather assign human resources he believes in to specific positions, and make use of their knowledge and conceptual ability to advance policies."

       Both Abe and Suga took authority over personnel issues at ministries and agencies through the Cabinet Bureau of Personnel Affairs, and made sure to appoint senior officials who would faithfully execute the administration's wishes. "(Abe and Suga) ruled with an iron fist using authority over personnel issues as a shield, creating a chilling effect on bureaucrats which led them to try to read between the lines for the leaders' true intentions," a middle-ranking Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) legislator said. "Prime Minister Kishida understands that and is trying to make a turnaround."

       The lineup of the prime minister's aides is symbolic of that effort to turn things around. Kishida's appointment of right-hand man Takashi Shimada was a rare one for a former vice minister of economy, trade and industry. Many of Kishida's other aides are also heavyweights who have served as assistant vice ministers or higher -- a great contrast to the Abe and Suga administrations, in which young division chiefs were appointed to become aides. Kishida's aim was to appoint senior officials with strong conduits to various ministries and agencies so that a system could be set up to draw views from the bureaucracy.

       A source close to the prime minister said, "The atmosphere of the prime minister's office has changed dramatically from the previous administration." Amid a situation in which new daily coronavirus infections were kept low, a nationwide public opinion poll by the Mainichi Shimbun on Dec. 18, 2021, showed the Cabinet's approval rating was up by 6 percentage points from the previous month to 54%.

       But the negative effects of widening bureaucracy's discretionary power have begun to show.

       Without first consulting with the prime minister's office, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) sought that airlines stop taking reservations for all international flights arriving in Japan in late November. In response to sharp criticism, the prime minister instructed the ministry to review its policy, which was subsequently rescinded.

       On Dec. 24, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) drew up guidelines banning those who had been in close contact with individuals infected with the coronavirus's omicron variant from taking university entrance exams regardless of whether they had symptoms. This, too, was a decision made without any consultation with the prime minister's office, and was fiercely criticized online as lacking consideration for college applicants. Former education minister and current minister of economy, trade and industry Koichi Hagiuda advised the prime minister the following day to retract the policy.

       "I didn't get any reports (from the education ministry)," the prime minister reportedly complained. "It's the same as the stopping of airline reservations. Am I being taken for granted?"

       Every time government policy changes, Kishida calls it a "flexible response." But if confusion continues, questions about his ability to govern will emerge. What and how much will Kishida leave up to the bureaucracy? At the Jan. 4 press conference, he said, "Whether it's top-down or bottom-up, being able to use the appropriate approach at the appropriate time is smart politics." The prime minister continues to fumble his way toward "Kishida-style" politics.

       (Japanese original by Shuhei Endo and Shiho Fujibuchi, Political News Department)

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