Kishida mirrors former PM Ikeda in pursuit of Japan's top post

Separated by decades, both men shared determination to defy the odds

Hayato Ikeda, left, won election as Japan's prime minister in 1960. Both he and the country's new leader, Fumio Kishida, reached the nation's highest office when few others believed it was possible.

NAOYA YOSHINO, Nikkei political editor

October 13, 2021 10:34 JST

TOKYO -- Fumio Kishida's determination to overcome the odds and win election as prime minister echoes the resolve of Hayato Ikeda, a Japanese leader from the 1960s with whom he shares political and geographic roots.

But as Kishida prepares to dissolve the Diet's lower house on Thursday for a general election Oct. 31, Japan's new prime minister faces a far less bullish economic landscape.