Photo/Illutration Shigeru Ishiba, president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, is elected prime minister during a Lower House plenary session on Oct. 1. (Yasumasa Kikuchi)

Mr. Ishiba, I have a question.

When you announced your candidacy for the presidency of the Liberal Democratic Party, you said that married couples should be allowed to choose between sharing their spouses’ surname or using different surnames.

“I believe they should have that choice,” you stated. “I believe in eliminating any situation that makes people sad or suffer the inconvenience of not being able to choose their surname.”

That was at a news conference on Aug. 24 at a Shinto shrine in your home prefecture of Tottori.

What have you done about that issue since?

Introducing a system to give married couples that choice was one of the LDP presidential election issues. It was back in 1996 that the Legislative Council of the Justice Ministry recommended that the civil code be revised to legalize the system, but nothing has been done since.

When Sanae Takaichi, who opposes the system, lost to you in the runoff election, some people voiced the hope that “politics are finally moving.”

However, the coalition agreement you signed with Komeito on Sept. 30 makes no mention whatsoever of the system.

Komeito is in favor of the system. But you are said to have kept the issue off the agreement out of consideration for your party’s conservative members.

The moment you’ve seized power, you no longer feel any qualms about going back on your word, is that it?

Looking at the faces in the Ishiba Cabinet, I feel uneasy about your handling of women’s policies.

Mari Miura, the author and editor of “Nihon no Josei Giin” (Japan’s female legislators), notes that the appointment of women to Cabinet posts is “a matter that can be improved by the prime minister’s strong commitment and leadership.”

But there are only two women in your Cabinet, even though there are as many as three Cabinet members who have held the defense portfolio before.

Without even calling a Budget Committee session where you will shine, you have decided to dissolve the Lower House after the shortest interval in post-World War II history, from the day you assumed the premiership.

But what happened to the “sufficient material for voters to make their decisions on” that you said you’d provide before the election?

Ultimately, your party’s interests and strategies are more important than the Japanese people or the Diet, aren’t they?

What do you say, Mr. Ishiba?

—The Asahi Shimbun, Oct. 2

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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.

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