Photo/Illutration Shigeru Ishiba, left, shakes hands with Fumio Kishida after winning the Liberal Democratic Party's presidential election on Sept. 27. (Takeshi Komiya)

Shigeru Ishiba is known for the way he gives his opinions, always with a hint of pride.

Although this style has raised more than a few eyebrows, those who have remained close to Ishiba, the new president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, say his outspokenness is a large part of his appeal.

One person said that just listening to Ishiba is “my hobby.”

It is hard to find a politician in Nagatacho who has been so praised and so censured.

The cornerstones of Ishiba the politician are a living environment experienced only by hereditary Diet members and his relationship with his father.

His father, Jiro Ishiba, became the governor of Tottori Prefecture when Ishiba was 1 year old.

After serving the governor for more than 15 years, Jiro became an Upper House member and was appointed minister of local government, among other posts.

“I used to live in the huge governor’s official residence,” Ishiba has said about his daily life as a child.

It is unclear whether his upbringing has anything to do with this, but Ishiba does not “read the room,” let alone try.

At hotel bars, he will ask without hesitation, “Do you have curry rice?”

Many people find this kind of behavior incomprehensible.

However, growing up in the governor’s official residence, Ishiba was able to closely observe his father in action as a politician.

But he may have developed an inferiority complex from it.

Even after serving as defense minister, agriculture minister and regional development minister, and rising to second-highest party post of secretary general, Ishiba has often said, “I have not reached my father’s level.”

Ishiba likes to drink but does not like drinking parties.

And although he doesn’t try to “read the room,” books are piled up like a mountain range in his office at the Diet members’ building. He spends his days reading them as if he is being driven by something.

One of his favorite phrases is, “After becoming prime minister, I can’t just say, ‘I didn’t study hard enough.’”

The teachings of former Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka, who was a close friend of Ishiba’s father, were also an important factor in shaping Ishiba as a politician.

Working as a staff member at an office of the Tanaka faction, Ishiba was taught to “earn with your feet.”

For the 1986 Lower House election, Ishiba said he visited 54,000 households, and he won his first seat by gaining 56,534 votes.

Ishiba often brings up this episode when he talks with junior Diet members, emphatically saying, “The number of hands you shake is the number of votes you get.”

This practice, based on teachings from Tanaka, won Ishiba votes of local party members and LDP allies in this presidential election as well.

Although he gives off an image of “stubbornness,” his way of speaking has led to his appearances on many TV variety shows. He is also popular as a “military geek” and “railroad geek.”

After losing in four presidential elections, he finally came out on top in his fifth attempt, a feat no one has accomplished in the past.

The closest he came to the presidency before was in 2012, when he lost to former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in a runoff.

When Abe entrusted him with the post of LDP secretary-general, Ishiba told those close to him: “It is a big deal for someone like me to become secretary-general. If I do the job I am given, then the next phase will come, if it comes at all.”

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