Kamikawa joins LDP leadership race says she will build a new Japan

Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa announced a last-minute bid Wednesday for the presidency of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party to succeed Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, aiming to become the country's first female leader.

The presidential race will take place following Kishida's announcement that he will not seek reelection as LDP leader, taking responsibility for a slush funds scandal late last year that has significantly eroded public trust.

Just a day before the start of official campaigning, Kamikawa, 71, managed to secure recommendations from 20 LDP lawmakers, the requirement for running in the party's Sept. 27 presidential election.

In her first bid for the party leadership, Kamikawa said at a press conference, "Never running away from any hardships, I will build a new Japan." The seventh-term House of Representatives member became Japan's first female foreign minister in around two decades in September last year.

Among the eight other candidates who had already announced their bids for the presidential election that will determine the next prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, 63, currently serving as economic security minister, is also a woman.

Seiko Noda, 64, a former internal affairs minister, had been viewed as another potential female candidate but decided not to join the race. She will instead back former Environment Minister Shinjiro Koizumi, 43, according to a source close to the matter.