By endorsing another term for 70-year-old Natsuo Yamaguchi, who has led the party since 2009, Komeito chose to emphasize party stability, continuity and experience rather than freshness and bold new ideas.
It’s mostly been a successful strategy over the years, but the start of Yamaguchi's eighth term comes at a time when relations between Komeito and its senior coalition partner, the Liberal Democratic Party, are not as strong as they used to be.
While there continues to be a formal working relationship between the LDP and Komeito, the kind of close, informal connections senior members of previous LDP-led governments had with top Komeito officials appears to be lacking under Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.