In May, Wakamono Manifest Sakutei Iinkai, a policy research group dedicated to issues relevant to people under 40, posted results of a survey in which members were asked who they wanted to lead Japan. There was no consensus, but the individual who received the most votes was Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker Taro Kono, followed by Osaka Governor Toru Hashimoto and "no one."
Kono, the son of former foreign minister Yohei Kono, is often referred to as an LDP heretic because of his opposition to Japan's nuclear energy policy, which predated the March 11 disaster. In a recent interview with Reuters, he said he would form an alliance with like-minded politicians in both the LDP and the ruling Democratic Party of Japan to change the country's energy policy, though the LDP leadership seems determined to keep a lid on him. He was one of only two lower house LDP lawmakers who voted in favor of Prime Minister Naoto Kan's request for a 70-day extension of the current Diet session and as a result was denied the ¥1 million summertime bonus LDP Diet members receive. "That's the equivalent of half my annual operating expenses," he told reporters ruefully.
Though his pedigree guarantees him a certain degree of exposure, Kono's views were never taken seriously by the media, which isn't to say they were extreme. Kono is a fiscal and social conservative. He is also cocky and ambitious, which is why he hasn't quit the LDP. He wants to become prime minister, an office his father never achieved despite having once been president of the party, and believes the LDP is his best chance at achieving that goal. Since March 11 he's finally gotten the attention he always felt he deserved.