Photo/Illutration Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at an Aug. 14 news conference at the prime minister’s office where he announced he will not run in the Liberal Democratic Party's next presidential election (Pool)

“I’ll let you go for today” is the famous punch line of a popular slapstick “manzai” comedy act. It is intoned with the cool nonchalance of a man who is trouncing his opponent, when the reality is that he is the loser.

The man’s ludicrously misplaced bravado never fails to crack up the audience.

Did I just hear that line, or was it only my imagination? These thoughts flashed through my mind while I watched Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s Aug. 14 news conference, during which he announced that he would not be running in the upcoming Liberal Democratic Party presidential race.

He said he is standing down to take responsibility for the party’s slush fund scandal. That sounded reasonable in itself. But if he genuinely meant that, he should have resigned much earlier.

I suspect he had no choice but to forgo the election because the odds of his winning it were poor. And there also was growing pressure from within the LDP to change the party’s “face.”

The Kishida administration ventured into many crucial and highly controversial policy transitions, including the doubling of the nation’s defense budget and maximum utilization of nuclear power.

They were all extremely divisive issues, but any prospect of subjecting them to democratic discussion was simply dismissed out of hand as a “no-go,” as the manzai comic would have put it.

What did Kishida want to do most when he became prime minister? Belatedly, I am still wondering about it.

During the news conference, he used the expression “seijika no iji,” which can mean many things like a politician’s “pride,” “determination,” “will” and so on. I can hear the manzai comic muttering, “I have no idea what he’s saying.”

Kishida neglected to truly heed the many voices of the Japanese people, and his voice failed to resonate with the people.

In the meantime, he overused hackneyed pleasantries—such as “teinei na setsumei” (careful and thorough explanation) and “shinshi na uketome” (taking the matter gravely)—and they do not mean a thing anymore.

Despite everything, however, the LDP is still hopeful of winning the next general election by renovating the “shop sign,” so to speak.

Whatever putdown the LDP gets hit with, I suppose its comeback—a la manzai comic—will go something like, “OK, let’s go to another pub.”

Enough already with the lame manzai.

—The Asahi Shimbun, Aug. 16

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.