In a Sept. 30 speech outlining his policy platform, Fumio Kishida, the newly elected president of the Liberal Democratic Party and prime minister-in-waiting, outlined a strategy he dubbed ¡°the Reiwa Era¡¯s Income Doubling Plan.¡±
¡°Income doubling¡± is a not-so-subtle reference to the plan advanced by then-ascendant Prime Minister Hayato Ikeda in 1960. He would retire four years later, but under his successor, Eisaku Sato, the Japanese economy continued to surpass 10% annual growth, and its gross national product doubled in less than seven years.
Kishida, stating that as long as the fruits of growth ¡°are concentrated only among some people... we cannot establish a healthy economic cycle,¡± has vowed to redistribute wealth through the boosting of people¡¯s wages ¡°so more can join the middle class.¡±
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