Washington: Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa is emerging as a candidate to succeed Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, whose cabinet is facing sluggish approval ratings.

Since Kamikawa took office in September, her reputation has been gradually bolstered by her energetic foreign visits. Some in the ruling parties expect her to become the country’s first female prime minister.

In Washington on Friday, Kamikawa met with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken. She told reporters later that she and Blinken agreed that their countries will work together to maintain and strengthen the free and open international order based on the rule of law.

Prior to the U.S. trip, the top Japanese diplomat visited Ukraine and had talks with her Ukrainian counterpart, Dmytro Kuleba, under an air raid alert. “She was keeping a firm attitude without being nervous,” a senior official of her ministry said.

In a Jiji Press survey in December, Kamikawa was named by 3.1 percent of respondents as the Liberal Democratic Party member who is most fit to become prime minister. She ranked sixth, behind former LDP Secretary-General Shigeru Ishiba and others, but ahead of Kishida, who was named by only 1.6 percent.

Kamikawa, 70, has been elected to the House of Representatives seven times and served as justice minister three times. Despite her reputation for practical skills, she had not been considered a candidate for prime minister until she assumed her current post of foreign minister.

Expectations for Kamikawa are growing at a time when the LDP is under public scrutiny for a high-profile political funds scandal involving its factions.

Kamikawa “gives a clean impression,” said an official of Komeito, the LDP’s coalition partner. “A female prime minister would be an icon in our election campaign.”

“She is not necessarily glamorous, but she has high skills,” said a former cabinet minister from the LDP.

Meanwhile, Kamikawa is said to be not good at making quick and witty responses. She often reads statements prepared by bureaucrats at press conferences and parliamentary meetings.

“If she wants to become prime minister, she would need to communicate her policies to a wide range of people,” an LDP source said.

JIJI Press