The Japan NewsThe Democratic Party on Thursday elected acting party chief Renho as its new president with the majority support of its rank and file, making her the first woman to lead the DP.

Renho’s three-year term will last through September 2019.

Under her leadership, the major opposition party now faces the task of rebuilding its apparatus after a major defeat in this summer’s House of Councillors election.

“I firmly accept the grave responsibility to lead [the DP] and rebuild it into a party that people will vote for,” Renho, 48, said in a speech after the presidential ballot. She added that the DP should become “a party that can confront the enormous ruling party by making proposals in a stately manner rather than by just criticizing.”

However, it remains unclear how the new party chief intends to achieve her goals. At a press conference later in the day, Renho said that she does not yet have any ideas as to who should be included in the new DP leadership.

The winner of the presidential ballot, held during the DP’s extraordinary party convention in Tokyo, was decided by the number of points the candidates won based on the votes they gained from Diet members, registered party members and supporters, and local assembly members. Of the 849-point total, Renho won 503 points, which gave her majority support.

Two other candidates — former Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara and current House of Representatives member Yuichiro Tamaki — both aimed to prevent Renho, who was deemed the leading contender, from winning a majority. This would have meant a run-off, but ultimately they finished far behind.

Renho announced her bid for the party presidency in early August after outgoing party chief Katsuya Okada announced at the end of July that he would not seek another term.

Okada gave his support to Renho in the presidential election.

Born to a father from Taiwan and a Japanese mother, Renho ran into trouble recently when her dual citizenship came to light. Despite her saying she had relinquished her Taiwan citizenship, it was discovered that she still held it.</s>TOKYO — Renho Murata became the first woman to lead the opposition Democratic Party in Japan after winning a leadership contest on Thursday.

Ms. Murata, who has served in the country’s upper house of Parliament for more than a decade, won in a landslide against two male competitors despite controversy over her part-Taiwanese heritage.

By winning the leadership contest, Ms. Murata, who is widely known by just her first name, became the third woman to take up a prominent political job in Japan in less than two months, heralding a budding shift in a country with an abysmal track record of putting women in power.

In her final speech before the vote, Ms. Murata, a former model and television news anchor, spoke emotionally about her children, 19-year-old twins, and how she was sometimes frustrated trying to balance work and motherhood.</s>Prime minister Shinzo Abe’s dominance over Japanese politics is under threat for the first time since 2012 after the main opposition party elected a charismatic former TV star as its new leader.

Renho Murata – who goes by her first name, Renho – swept to victory with 503 votes out of 849 in the Democratic Party’s electoral college.

Born to a Taiwanese father and a Japanese mother, the 48-year-old Renho is the first person of mixed-ethnic heritage to lead a big political party in Japan, and has sought to cast herself as a voice for the country’s younger generation.

She is also the first woman to lead Japan’s main opposition party.

Renho’s victory follows Yuriko Koike’s election as governor of Tokyo and Tomomi Inada’s appointment as defence minister. All three are seen as symbols of cultural change with the potential to become Japan’s first female prime minister.

Wearing her trademark white suit, Renho said the road ahead would be difficult as she competes against a popular Abe administration. But she declared: “Our goal now is to become the ruling party.”

The Democratic Party has been in the doldrums since it lost to Mr Abe in 2012 after a disastrous spell in office, marred by economic weakness, foreign policy confusion and the Fukushima nuclear disaster.

It has just 8 per cent in the opinion polls, compared with 40 per cent for Mr Abe’s Liberal Democrats, after the prime minister’s latest stunt – dressing as the video game character Super Mario at the Rio Olympic closing ceremony – boosted his popularity.

Renho is seen as one of few politicians who can compete with Mr Abe for attention. She has 400,000 followers on Twitter and won more votes than any other candidate in the Tokyo district in this summer’s upper house elections.

She was elected to parliament in 2004 after working as a model and a TV newsreader. Renho attracted attention as minister for government revitalisation from 2010 to 2012 by launching pointed critiques of Japan’s bureaucracy.

Renho’s signature issue is support for young families, including free pre-school and higher pay for nursery teachers, but she is regarded as fairly centrist on policy. She opposes nuclear power; is in favour of trade deals in principle but against the Trans-Pacific Partnership; and is open to some revision of Japan’s constitution.

Her campaign was marred by a row over her ancestry, with some Democratic MPs calling for her to quit the race after it emerged that she has not formally renounced her Taiwanese citizenship. Japan forbids dual nationality.

Her wobbly handling of the issue – changing position several times only to be confronted with past statements – led some Democratic Party rivals to argue she will be an easy target for attacks by Mr Abe and the LDP.

But in the end she won a clear victory, winning majorities from among MPs and local elected officials, with especially strong support from the party’s grass roots supporters.</s>The Democratic Party made history Thursday, electing Renho as the first female leader of the main opposition force.

The 48-year-old mother-of-two and former swimwear model, who previously served as deputy leader, was set to give a striking image makeover to a party dogged by lackluster popularity linked in part to its disastrous performance in power during the Fukushima nuclear crisis.

Renho is also a radical choice in Japan for the fact that she is of partly non-Japanese origin, with a Taiwanese father and Japanese mother.

She won an election by DP lawmakers and party rank and file despite an eleventh-hour storm over the revelation that she holds dual nationality.

On Tuesday, she reversed an earlier denial in the matter, revealing that a past attempt to relinquish her Taiwanese citizenship had failed.

She said she is now renewing efforts to lose it, but critics said her fumbling reflected a lack of political savvy.

In the run-up to Thursday’s leadership election, Renho, who goes only by one name, campaigned on a promise to transform the struggling DP into a “revolutionary party” that offers realistic alternatives to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party.

Specifically, she called for greater investment in people and education, including free preschool and higher salaries for nursery teachers.

Her leadership represents a sharp break from the DP’s traditional presidency roster dominated by aging men. It also comes as Japan’s male-dominated political and business circles make cautious efforts toward empowering female leaders.

Other women recently to have made it big include LDP lawmaker Tomomi Inada, who is now defense minister, and Yuriko Koike, who was elected Tokyo governor.

However, Renho’s talk about remaking the DP may prove to be nothing more than that. Some observers expect her to adhere to the liberal policies upheld by her predecessor, Katsuya Okada, and make no major shifts in other areas.

Upon throwing her hat into the ring, Renho promised to protect the war-renouncing Article 9 of the Constitution, at a time when Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is widely believed to be seeking to amend it.

However, she also expressed readiness to discuss constitutional amendments with the ruling coalition.

Renho, a third-term Upper House lawmaker, served as state minister in charge of government revitalization in 2010, when the Democratic Party of Japan, the DP’s predecessor, held power.

A mother of twins, she enjoys high support from the public. She secured more than 1 million votes to finish a strong first in the Upper House election in her Tokyo district in July.</s>The Democratic Party made history Thursday, electing Renho as the first female leader of the main opposition force.

The 48-year-old mother of two and former swimwear model, who previously served as deputy leader, was set to give a striking image makeover to a party dogged by lackluster popularity linked in part to its disastrous performance in power during the Fukushima nuclear crisis.

“We are up against the juggernaut of the ruling coalition and the highly popular administration” of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Renho said after being elected.

“But we won’t just criticize the ruling power. Rather, we’ll propose actual counter-policies so we can become the party of people’s choice.”

Renho is also a radical choice in Japan for the fact that she is of partly non-Japanese origin, with a Taiwanese father and Japanese mother.

She won an election by DP lawmakers and party rank and file despite an eleventh-hour storm over the revelation that she holds dual nationality.

On Tuesday, she reversed an earlier denial in the matter, revealing that a past attempt to relinquish her Taiwanese citizenship had failed.

She said she is now renewing efforts to lose it, but critics said her fumbling reflected a lack of political savvy.

Renho emerged victorious with total of 503 points out of 849. Her rivals, veteran lawmaker Seiji Maehara and rookie contender Yuichiro Tamaki, garnered 230 and 116 points, respectively.

Of the total 849 points up for grabs, including votes by Diet members, 206 points were allocated to some 1,600 local and prefectural assembly members. Ballots cast by rank-and-file party members accounted for slightly more than 50 percent of the total points.

In the run-up to Thursday’s leadership election, Renho, who goes only by one name, campaigned on a promise to transform the struggling DP into a “revolutionary party” that offers realistic alternatives to Abe’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party.

Specifically, she called for greater investment in people and education, including free preschool and higher salaries for nursery teachers.

Her leadership represents a sharp break from the DP’s traditional presidency roster dominated by aging men. It also comes as Japan’s male-dominated political and business circles make cautious efforts toward empowering female leaders.

Despite pioneers such as the late Takako Doi, who led the predecessor of the Social Democratic Party from 1986 to 1991, and later the SDP between 1996 through 2003, female leaders have been a rarity in Japanese politics.

More recently, women to have broken through the glass ceiling include LDP lawmaker Tomomi Inada, who is now defense minister, and Yuriko Koike, who was elected Tokyo governor.

Other women recently to have made it big include LDP lawmaker Tomomi Inada, who is now defense minister, and Yuriko Koike, who was elected Tokyo governor.

Some say Renho’s victory will turn the DP into a stronger counterweight to the LDP, though others remain skeptical.

Kazuhisa Kawakami, a professor of political science at the International University of Health and Welfare, said Renho could play up her role as a mother to differentiate herself from Abe. Her leadership, Kawakami said, represents a “significant revamp” of the DP’s public image and could possibly lead to an uptick in its chronically sluggish support rate of around 10 percent.

But Yoshiaki Kobayashi, a professor of political science at Keio University, was more cynical. He said Renho’s woman card is unlikely to prove a game-changer given Abe, too, has trumpeted a raft of female-friendly policies under what is dubbed the “womenomics” drive.

In fact, some of Renho’s key campaign promises on the “women front,” such as vows to increase female lawmakers and ax the decades-long spousal tax break system critics say has dissuaded women working full-time, are already part of the LDP platform.

“Renho’s pro-women policies are not that different from those already pushed by the Abe administration,” Kobayashi said.

But for Renho, even more daunting challenges lie ahead as the coalition appears set to pounce on her mishandling of the citizenship issue, and are likely to use it to question her caliber as a leader, particularly for the biggest opposition party.

On Thursday, the Justice Ministry clarified that despite Tokyo’s lack of diplomatic relations with Taiwan, the Japanese government does not apply Chinese law to those who possess Taiwanese citizenship in Japan.

The announcement could work to Renho’s disadvantage because it discredits the claim that she actually no longer has Taiwanese citizenship as per China’s law stipulating Chinese citizens abroad automatically forfeit such citizenship upon acquiring foreign nationality of their own volition.

After being elected president, Renho reiterated that she had broken no laws. But legal questions aside, “the criticism she somehow obfuscated her inconvenient past will likely persist,” Kawakami said.

Another Achilles’ heel is the fact that she is an Upper House lawmaker. Although lawmakers from the upper chamber are technically allowed to become prime minister, history shows no one from the less influential chamber has ever clenched the position in the post-war era. Renho has already expressed her willingness to run for a Lower House seat to place herself in a better position to dethrone Abe.

Kawakami noted it is easier said than done, saying “the LDP is not stupid enough to let her win so easily.”

Policy-wise, observers expect Renho to adhere to the liberal policies upheld by her predecessor, Katsuya Okada.

Upon throwing her hat into the ring, Renho echoed Okada’s calls that the war-renouncing Article 9 of the Constitution be protected, at a time when Abe is widely believed to be seeking to amend it.

In a possible break from Okada’s stance, she did, however, express a readiness to discuss constitutional amendments with the ruling coalition.

While flatly ruling out the possibility of forming a coalition government with the far-left Japanese Communist Party, she has refused to rule out another electoral tie-up with the party — a controversial tactic pushed by Okada — in case the Lower House is dissolved.

Renho, a third-term Upper House lawmaker, served as state minister in charge of government revitalization in 2010, when the Democratic Party of Japan, the DP’s predecessor, held power.

A mother of twins, she enjoys high support from the public. She secured more than 1 million votes to finish a strong first in the Upper House election in her Tokyo district in July.

Throughout her campaign, Renho called the election a chance for the DP to evolve into a “next-generation” party.

But her calls for rejuvenation apparently haven’t struck a chord with voters, with the latest NHK poll showing its support rate slumped to 8.3 percent in September from 9.0 percent the previous month.

In addition, its much-hyped merger with the smaller Ishin no To (Japan Innovation Party) in March did little to increase its popularity.</s>TOKYO, Sept 15 (Reuters) - Japan's main opposition Democratic Party on Thursday elected a former cabinet minister as its first female leader on Thursday, following a last-minute hiccup when she was found to hold dual citizenship in violation of Japanese law.

Renho, 48, who goes by her given name only, hopes to repair the party's image, battered by three years in power that were plagued by infighting, policy flip flops and unkept promises that handed Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) a landslide election win in 2012.

Born to a Japanese mother and Taiwanese father, the former TV announcer and mother of twins was embarrassed this week when she discovered she held Taiwanese as well as Japanese citizenship.

The law requires those with dual citizenship to choose one by age 22 and when opting for Japan, endeavour to renounce the other nationality. But there is no penalty for not doing so.

Renho had previously said she believed paperwork to renounce her Taiwanese citizenship had been completed when she was a teenager but was recently notified by the de facto Taiwanese embassy in Japan that her Taiwanese citizenship was still valid.

"I would like to apologise for the recent trouble I have caused by my unclear memory and statements," she said in a speech ahead of the vote.

Renho is one of a handful of women to grab the spotlight lately in Japan's male-dominated corridors of power, along with hawkish Defence Minister Tomomi Inada and Yuriko Koike, a former defence minister who is now Tokyo's first female governor.

She admitted on Thursday her party faces an uphill battle against the LDP, which together with its junior partner dominates both houses of parliament.

"From here on, we will face a giant ruling party," she said after the vote. "I'd like to call upon everyone to join me in becoming a party that does not criticise but makes proposals ... so one day we will become Japan's choice."

An Asahi newspaper poll this week showed 40 percent of those surveyed support the LDP against 7 percent for the Democrats.

In an interview with Reuters, Renho said the prime minister's signature "Abenomics" growth policies had stalled, and a Democratic government would not sharply shift Japanese foreign policies centred on Tokyo's alliance with Washington.

Renho beat former foreign minister Seiji Maehara and party lawmaker Yuichiro Tamaki in the leadership election. (Writing by Kiyoshi Takenaka and Linda Sieg; Reporting by Megumi Lim; Editing by Nick Macfie)</s>Japan's main opposition party chose a half-Taiwanese former model and TV anchorwoman as its new leader Thursday, as it looks to reboot its fortunes after four years in the political wilderness.

The telegenic Renho, a 48-year-old who goes by only one name, trounced her opponents -- including a former foreign minister -- to take the helm of the beleaguered Democratic Party.

The one-time journalist earned the nickname "Hissatsu" (shoot-to-kill) for her style of grilling bureaucrats over public waste, in a country where the media are often criticised for pulling their punches.

"I'll stand at the forefront of our fight to rebuild the party to win an election again," Renho said, after being declared the winner.

Renho's Taiwanese heritage -- her father is from the island, a former Japanese colony -- became an issue during the vote.

She was forced to apologise after it emerged she had never given up her Taiwanese citizenship. Japan does not allow adults to hold dual nationality.

With the exception of its television personalities, largely ethnically homogenous Japan is unused to seeing mixed-race people in public positions.

However, last week a half-Indian beauty queen was crowned Miss Japan. That came a year after a black woman claimed the title, and faced an ugly backlash on social media.

Renho first came to national prominence in the 1980s as a model and later as a TV newscaster, reporting from the quake-devastated city of Kobe in 1995.

She sparked controversy in 2010 when she posed for a magazine shoot inside parliament for Vogue Nippon, the Japanese version of the international fashion monthly.

The centre-left Democratic Party that she now leads faces a huge battle to revive flagging fortunes, with premier Shinzo Abe's ruling coalition boasting a majority in both houses of parliament.

The party -- formerly known as the Democratic Party of Japan before merging with a smaller party in March -- swept to power in 2009, ousting Abe's Liberal Democratic Party after more than half a century of conservative dominance.

But a series of mis-steps and policy flip-flops, along with its shambolic handling of the Fukushima nuclear crisis, cost it dearly in the polls, and it was booted from office in 2012.</s>New party leader gives Japan troika of top women in politics

TOKYO (AP) — Dressed in a white pants suit, the new head of Japan's main opposition party stood out as she raised her hands on stage with three other dark-suited party leaders.

Renho Murata, who generally goes by only her first name, is one of three women who have assumed prominent political posts in recent weeks in a country more known for its male-dominated political and business hierarchy. Her election Thursday followed that of Tokyo's first female governor on July 31, and the appointment of a woman as defense minister later the same week.

It's too early to say whether they are a harbinger of greater change, notwithstanding Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's "womenomics" push to encourage women to pursue careers. Japanese women have served in high posts before — a pioneer was popular politician Takako Doi, who took the reins of the Socialist party in 1986 — but they have been more the exception than the rule.

FILE - This combination of photos taken in Sept. 12, 2016, left, Sept. 2, 2011, center, and Aug. 29, 2016, shows Japanese female politicians, from left, Defense Minister Tomomi Inada, newly elected opposition Democratic Party leader Renho Murata and Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike. It¿s too early to say whether these three are a harbinger of greater change, notwithstanding Prime Minister Shinzo Abe¿s ¿womenomics¿ push to encourage women to pursue careers. Japanese women have served in high posts before - a pioneer was popular politician Takako Doi, who took the reins of the Socialist party in 1986 - but they have been more the exception than the rule. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara, Shizuo Kambayashi, File)

The latest three took varied paths to leadership:

At 48, newly elected Democratic Party leader Renho is relatively young to head a Japanese political party. She is also half Taiwanese, an issue that caused a hiccup in the closing days of the party contest, though in the end she won the three-way race by an overwhelming majority. Born Hsieh Lien-fang to a Japanese mother and Taiwanese father, Renho is the Japanese pronunciation of her given name. A former TV news personality and swimsuit model, she is a fast talker who earned a reputation for toughness while grilling bureaucrats over wasteful government projects. She held key party posts when the predecessor in the Democratic Party was in power, and was considered a possible future prime minister at the time. The Democrats, who have struggled since losing a parliamentary majority in 2012, are placing their hopes for a revival in Renho, with her trademark white jackets and articulate style.

Like Renho, Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike is a former television news personality who knows how to play to an audience. A member of Abe's ruling Liberal Democratic Party, she ran for governor without the support of the party's Tokyo leadership, which backed another (male) candidate. She went straight to voters and trounced both the establishment candidate and other challengers. A widely reported comment by former Gov. Shintaro Ishihara that Tokyo shouldn't be run by someone with too much makeup may only have boosted her popularity. Since her election, she has launched a review of the city's spiraling costs for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and postponed the move of Tokyo's fish market because of soil contamination concerns at the new site. Her decisions have reportedly infuriated some Tokyo government staff, but are popular with the public. Koike is no stranger to leadership. The 64-year-old veteran lawmaker was Japan's environment minister from 2003 to 2006 and briefly served as defense minister in 2007, the only woman to hold the post previously.

Defense Minister Tomomi Inada, who holds her first meeting with U.S. counterpart Ash Carter on Thursday in Washington, D.C., leapfrogged over more senior lawmakers to the defense post in a Cabinet reshuffle on Aug. 3. The 57-year-old lawyer has attracted attention for questioning mainstream accounts of Japanese atrocities during World War II and the fairness of the postwar Tokyo war crimes trials. She has been mum on her views of history since becoming defense minister, telling the media to refer to official government positions. Inada has risen quickly since being elected to parliament in 2005, serving most recently as policy chief for the ruling Liberal Democratic Party. Some speculate that Abe is grooming her to succeed him — which would make her Japan's first female prime minister — since they share similar views on wartime history and she could carry on his legacy. That would require some even more serious leapfrogging, though, over some (male) political veterans long waiting in the wings.

Associated Press writer Mari Yamaguchi contributed to this story.
Japan's Democratic Party elects Sha Renhō as President. The House of Councillors member becomes the first female to head the opposition party.