Candidates to become Japan's next prime minister all said they would have better policies to fight the pandemic and reduce the income gap during television debates on Friday, but they were split on diversity issues from same-sex marriage to married couples having separate surnames.
Whoever wins the Liberal Democratic Party presidency on Sept. 29 will become prime minister because of the LDP's majority in the lower house of parliament, and campaigning began in earnest on Friday with a series of televised debates., 58, recently veered from mainstream thinking in the conservative party by saying he favours the introduction of same-sex marriage, and during a debate broadcast by TV Asahi, he asked his main contender about his stance on the issue.
While they are not seen as frontrunners the contest is still regarded as unpredictable, and if either were to pull off a surprise win they would become Japan's first female prime minister. Among the more divisive issues separating the candidates is whether to allow married couples to have separate surnames.
Takaichi, the more conservative of the two female candidates, said in a debate on Fuji TV that the country should continue the existing system in order to avoid confusion among couples, and their children, with different family names.
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