Former Prime Minister Naoto Kan, who led Japan's immediate response to the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami disaster, said Saturday he does not intend to run in the next general election, as he seeks to bring about a generational shift in politics.
"I'm thinking about how to formalize my decision," Kan, 77, currently the top adviser to the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, told Kyodo News.
A 14-term House of Representatives lawmaker, Kan was first elected to the lower house in 1980 after beginning his political career as a civic activist.
The current four-year terms for Lower House lawmakers will expire in October 2025 unless the prime minister dissolves the chamber for a snap election.
Kan led the government of the Democratic Party of Japan, the CDP's predecessor, for 15 months through September 2011, handling the response to the Fukushima nuclear crisis triggered by a massive earthquake and tsunami in northeastern Japan.
Kenta Izumi, head of the CDP, acknowledged that he had met with Kan on Saturday morning.
Kan said he has been talking about generational change for some time and has "high hopes for the younger generation," according to Izumi, who posted on the X social media platform.