Constitutional Democratic Party President Kenta Izumi made his parliamentary debut as party leader Wednesday, questioning Prime Minister Fumio Kishida over issues ranging from the government’s coronavirus response to constitutional revision.
It was the first time since Izumi, 47, was elected CDP president last month that the leaders of the government and the largest opposition party had faced off against each other, and the exchange was remarkably cordial and free of rhetorical fireworks.
Izumi and the 64-year-old Kishida, as well as 67-year-old Japanese Communist Party leader Kazuo Shii, share the same birthday, June 29, and Izumi said that while he felt a strange kinship with the leaders of the other parties, his CDP will hold the government to account — even while recognizing that the party has often been criticized for doing little more than opposing the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.