Photo/Illutration Liberal Democratic Party President Sanae Takaichi, center, with party executives on Oct. 7. Taro Aso, Haruko Arimura and Keiji Furuya stand on her right, while Shunichi Suzuki and Takayuki Kobayashi stand on her left. (Takeshi Iwashita)

Sanae Takaichi, new president of the Liberal Democratic Party, launched her party leadership team on Oct. 7, featuring some of her conservative allies and a veteran embroiled in a high-profile political funding scandal.

For the party's four top posts, Takaichi appointed Shunichi Suzuki, 72, as secretary-general; Haruko Arimura, 55, as chair of the General Council; Takayuki Kobayashi, 50, as chair of the Policy Research Council; and Keiji Furuya, 72, as chair of the Election Strategy Committee.

Former Prime Minister Taro Aso, 85, was appointed as LDP vice president.

“I want to somehow turn the anxieties people feel about their current lives and about the future into hope and dreams,” Takaichi told an extraordinary meeting of the LDP General Council. “With that in mind, I will devote myself wholeheartedly to this work.”

In a runoff during the LDP leadership race on Oct. 4, Takaichi benefited from backing by Aso, who heads the Aso faction, the LDP’s only remaining intraparty faction.

Suzuki and Arimura are members of the Aso faction. A former chair of the General Council, Suzuki is also Aso’s brother-in-law.

While Takaichi emphasized a “moderate conservative” stance during the party presidential election, she favored lawmakers whose conservative positions align closely with her own.

Arimura, former minister in charge of women’s empowerment, opposes the creation of imperial branches headed by women and the introduction of optional separate surnames for married couples.

She is backed by the Shinto Association of Spiritual Leadership, a political organization affiliated with Jinja Honcho (the Association of Shinto Shrines).

Takaichi’s relationship with Furuya spans 30 years, and she has looked up to him as an “aniki,” a term for a respected senior akin to an older brother.

Furuya, former chair of the National Public Safety Commission, has worked with former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was Takaichi’s close ally, to resolve the abductions of Japanese nationals by North Korea.

He also chairs a cross-party group of Diet members for the conservative organization Nippon Kaigi (Japan Conference).

Furuya was the lead representative of Takaichi’s 20 nominators needed for candidacy during the LDP leadership race. Arimura was among the nominators.

Kobayashi, former minister in charge of economic security who ran in the party presidential election, contributed to Takaichi’s victory by throwing his support for her ahead of the runoff vote between Takaichi and agriculture minister Shinjiro Koizumi.

The policies Kobayashi advocated during the campaign, such as enacting anti-espionage legislation to crack down on spying by foreign powers and promoting active government investment in growth sectors, overlap with Takaichi’s own platform.

Outside the top four posts, Koichi Hagiuda, a former member of the now-disbanded Abe faction who was suspended from LDP posts for one year in April last year for his involvement in the faction’s funding scandal, was appointed acting secretary-general.

During the leadership race, Hagiuda, 62, former chair of the Policy Research Council, endorsed Takaichi and rallied support for her among lawmakers from the former Abe faction.

At a news conference for the new party leadership team on Oct. 7, Secretary-General Suzuki defended Hagiuda’s appointment.

“He has already received disciplinary action under party rules, and he subsequently faced the judgment of voters in a national election,” he said. “That is very significant.”

Still, Suzuki acknowledged the lingering impact of the funding scandal, saying, “We recognize that there is still harsh criticism directed at the LDP over the issue.”

“Political reform is a never-ending process. We will regain trust in the party by continuing to create rules appropriate for the times and by consistently adhering to them.”

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