Administrative reform minister Taro Kono. (Mainichi)

       TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Japan's vaccination minister Taro Kono on Friday formally announced his bid to succeed Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga by joining the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's leadership race.

       The 58-year-old is the third LDP lawmaker to declare candidacy in the Sept. 29 election after former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida and former communications minister Sanae Takaichi.

       With campaigning for the vote starting in one week, Kono told Suga of his running in the contest when the two met in the morning before a Cabinet meeting, Kono said.

       A reform-minded maverick within the conservative LDP, Kono has led public opinion polls as the preferred candidate to succeed Suga as party head and the country's next leader.

       Suga abruptly announced his resignation last week amid rising criticism over his government's handling of the coronavirus pandemic and falling public approval ratings.

       Kono has set two catchphrases for the campaign -- "Move Japan forward," which is also the title of his recently released book, and "Change the LDP and change politics. Doing everything I can to tackle Japan's crisis."

       Born in Kanagawa Prefecture to a prominent political family -- his father is former House of Representatives speaker Yohei Kono -- Taro Kono graduated from Georgetown University in Washington and worked in the private sector including at Fuji Xerox before successfully running for the lower house in 1996.

       Currently doubling as administrative reform minister, Kono has served in a number of other Cabinet posts such as foreign minister and defense minister.

       Kono in the past has gone against the party's mainstream by calling for Japan to make a break from nuclear energy and allow imperial family members in the matrilineal line to ascend the Chrysanthemum throne.

       Those views have made some LDP veterans wary of elevating him to prime minister, though younger lawmakers and those holding more vulnerable seats are pushing for him to become the face of the party heading into a general election this fall.

       This is Kono's second attempt at becoming LDP leader, having made a failed bid after the party was ousted from power in a humiliating defeat in the 2009 general election.

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