Yukio Edano, leader of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, will make a six-day trip to the United States from Sept. 11 in his first overseas visit since the main opposition party was formed last October, according to a CDP lawmaker.
Talks are currently underway to schedule a meeting between Edano, a former chief Cabinet secretary, and former U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, a CDP official told The Japan Times on Wednesday.
Sanders garnered intense support from young voters during the 2016 presidential campaign through policies centering on measures to address economic inequality.
Edano plans to visit Washington to meet U.S. experts and members of Congress with the hope of discussing issues related to the U.S.-Japan relationship, North Korea and trade, CDP Secretary-General Tetsuro Fukuyama said at a news conference Tuesday. Edano is also expected to deliver a speech at a university.
"We thought it important that our leader gets firsthand knowledge of the situation in the United States" after President Donald Trump's swearing-in in January 2017, Fukuyama said.
The CDP was launched ahead of last October's House of Representatives election as a refuge for the liberal wing of the now-defunct Democratic Party, which had at the time been the main opposition party.
