A smiling Taro Kono poses for photographs, standing next to a promotional poster of Japan¡¯s new prime minister and talking up the very man who beat him in a leadership race just a few weeks earlier.
The strange juxtaposition marked one of Kono¡¯s first major appearances as the ruling Liberal Democratic Party¡¯s new communications chief ¡ª a role widely seen as a demotion for the massively popular, Twitter-savvy former vaccine rollout minister.
Kono was unveiling the LDP¡¯s new poster featuring Fumio Kishida, who earlier this month became Japan¡¯s 100th prime minister.
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