Raw Japan

Grooming a prime minister

What does it take to be a leader in Japan? 

Luck and charm, according to the late founder of a school near Tokyo that has tried to groom political leaders for the past 30 years.

I visited the Matsushita institute of Government and Management recently, curious to see what it was doing to fix Japan’s shortage of strong leaders. 

Ever since the charismatic Junichiro Koizumi left the premiership in 2006, two leaders quit just after a year each and the current Prime Minsiter Taro Aso’s job is hanging by a thread before a general election this year.

Konosuke Matsushita, who set up the school in 1979, is said to have looked for luck and charm when interviewing applicants, but in reality, the his institute has worked to instil students with much more.