Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa became the ninth candidate for the Sept. 27 Liberal Democratic Party presidential election Wednesday, a move that could increase attention on foreign policy questions in a race so far dominated by party reform and domestic economic issues.
The 71-year-old Kamikawa made her announcement one day before the campaign begins Thursday. She is the second woman, after economic security minister Sanae Takaichi, to run for the ruling party¡¯s top post. A key ally of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, she is also the second member of a political faction he previously led to enter the race, after Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi, who announced on Sept. 3 that he would run.
While explaining her decision to run for the presidency, Kamikawa spoke about her experiences overseas.
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