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Japan's new Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba: From "eating cold rice" to victorious pork chop curry rice

"If I'm not a politician, it's good to open a curry house (laughs)." —Shigeru Ishiba, 2012

Japan's new Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba: From "eating cold rice" to victorious pork chop curry rice

Shigeru Ishiba, who won the 2024 presidential election of the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan, specially enjoyed pork cutlet curry rice before voting, on the one hand, using tonkatsu as a symbol of prayer for victory, and on the other hand, curry rice for Shigeru Ishiba has a sense of ritual that implements his own style. Shigeru Ishiba's specialty dish is curry rice, and he has a unique recipe designed with local ingredients from his hometown of Tottori, known as "Ishiba Curry", which was once popular among LDP lawmakers. However, compared with the resurgence of the scenery now, Shi Po Shigeru actually spent a long time "eating cold rice" - the situation described in Japanese as being left out is a portrayal of him as a lonely bird in the party.

At noon on September 27, the day of the LDP presidential election, Shigeru Ishiba posted a photo of eating pork chop curry for lunch on his X account (Twitter). Pork chop curry has a political symbolism, and the Japanese word for "victory" (カツ) is used, and in the past, in the LDP presidential election, the number of pork chop curry rice served for lunch on the day of the vote was used as an indicator of the voting intentions of the legislators.

Japan's new Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba: From "eating cold rice" to victorious pork chop curry rice

Shigeru Ishiba later won his wish and was elected president, becoming the 102nd prime minister of Japan. This situation has been called a "reversal drama" in the election commentary of major news in Japan because it is different from the previous expectation that "Sanae Takaichi has a slightly higher chance of winning", and under the operation of Fumio Kishida and Yoshihide Suga, the votes were concentrated in the final round and the reversal was achieved. Some news outlets believe that "Shigeru Ishiba was not favored from the beginning" – a statement that is clearly wrong, because as early as November 2023, when the Kishida administration's approval rating fell to a low of 25% at that time, there were calls for Shigeru Ishiba to qualify, believing that he was one of the people who had the opportunity to bring a sense of innovation.

After Shigeru Ishiba decided to run for election, he quickly reached a joint signature with the recommendation of the party elders and the support of the legislators. Although Shi Po's momentum is not overwhelming, its power cannot be ignored; The reason why he has the impression of "not favored" may be due to the repeated defeats of Ishipo's past four presidential elections, and the fact that his faction was dissipated by the mainstream Abe faction, so it seems difficult for the outside world to imagine whether Ishipo, who is running for the fifth time, can win.

"Is there a way for that guy who eats cold rice to become the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party?"

Japan's new Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba: From "eating cold rice" to victorious pork chop curry rice

"Eat cold rice" (cold rice 食い/ひやめしぐい) is a Japanese term to describe a person who is not valued and left out in the cold, and sometimes refers to having to rely on the support of others to survive. The reason why Ishiba is said to be eating cold rice refers to the fact that in the era of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's monopoly, the mainstream faction was the Abe faction, and the person who competed with Abe everywhere in the party and criticized Abe was Ishiba Shigeru. In particular, in response to the structural dissatisfaction of the leadership of "Abe Ichiqiang", he also directly criticized Abe's Moritomo and Kake Gakuen turmoil. Ishiba became a non-mainstream headwinder in the party, not only was he alienated by other members of the law, but Abe also weakened Ishiba's factional power during his long term in power.

This situation of eating cold rice was once described by a senior reporter on the Japan political front: after the Abe administration moved towards a long-term approach, Shigeru Ishiba had no place to stay, and the "Ishiba curry" that entertained everyone disappeared from the menu.

"Ishiba Curry" is the proud dish of Shigeru Ishiba, and it was once a famous item of the Liberal Democratic Party. In March 2013, before the LDP held a congress, the "Yatai Village" food stall garden party was held in front of the party headquarters in Nagata Town, and many party leaders became food stall owners to get closer to the public. Shigeru Ishiba, who was the secretary general at the time, personally cooked in the cafeteria of the party headquarters and made the famous Ishiba curry.

Ishiba curry has its own "secret recipe", and the ingredients used are mostly taken from Ishiba Shigeru's hometown of Tottori, especially the local chicken, buckwheat, and pear sake for seasoning. According to Shi Po's own words, he has eaten curry almost every day since he was in college, and when he was young, he used to eat curry for breakfast, lunch and dinner for a month, and he loved it to develop his own style of recipes.

In a 2012 interview with the weekly magazine "Women Themselves", Ishiba also said, "If I'm not a politician anymore, it's good to open a curry house (laughs)."

Japan's new Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba: From "eating cold rice" to victorious pork chop curry rice
Japan's new Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba: From "eating cold rice" to victorious pork chop curry rice

After more than 10 years, does Ishiba Curry have a chance to "return to the menu"? Some people believe that after Ishiba became prime minister, there must be a sequelae of the problem of poor popularity within the party in the past, especially the members of the old Abe faction may still be at odds with Ishiba. However, some analysts believe that with the death of Shinzo Abe and the dissolution of the Abe faction due to the political donation scandal, the past entanglements will dissipate, and the resurgence of Ishiba may be a symbol of the reorganization of the internal structure.

Shigeru Ishiba was officially named the new prime minister on October 1, and the new cabinet members will be announced. Among the currently known candidates, Takeshi Iwaya is the foreign minister, and Nakatani Moto, the defense minister, both of whom have served in defense and security.

Japan's new Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba: From "eating cold rice" to victorious pork chop curry rice

On September 27, the day Ishiba was elected, a United States think tank simultaneously released the English and Japanese version of Shigeru Ishiba's submission, titled "Shigeru Ishiba on Japan's New Security Era: The Future of Japan's Foreign Policy", which directly put forward the idea of establishing an Asian version of NATO (NATO) and clearly pointed out: "Today's Ukraine is tomorrow's Asia." In Asia, there is no system of collective defense like NATO, and there is no obligation to defend each other, so it has become a state where war is likely to break out."

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