The Kōchikai: How a Japanese Liberal Democratic Party Faction Went from Cooperation to Competition

Former Prime Minister Fumio Kishida receiving a proposal from the Liberal Democratic Party (2024)

Credit: Cabinet Public Relations Office / Wikimedia Commons

Japan is in political turmoil. From a new rice crisis to a possible upheaval within the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba (2024-Present) is facing tough times ahead both within his party and within the country as a whole. Former Prime Minister Fumio Kishida (2021-2024), who may be seeking to come back into the limelight as prime minister due to his internal influence in the LDP, failed in his attempt to unite the desperate splinter groups of the Kōchikai (Big Pond Society). With former Prime Minister Taro Aso (2008-2009) leading the last official faction of the LDP as well as supporting Sanae Takaichi, a divisive candidate for prime minister, it is a good time to reflect on the Kōchikai’s history and how it evolved from a faction espousing cooperation and tolerance to now being a divisive figure in Japanese politics. 

First, it is important to say that the current faction under Taro Aso, called the Shikokai (Public Aspiration Association), more commonly known as the Aso Faction, is not the direct descendant of the Kōchikai but rather a splinter group. It managed to survive through the faction dissolutions in the wake of a corruption scandal that spanned across many of the LDP’s factions over unreported kickbacks from fundraising events. With the advent of Ishiba’s administration, alongside his low polling numbers (albeit now rising slightly), Aso seems to be backing Sanae Takaichi, a very controversial candidate for her hawkish policies towards China, which will be focused on later. His support is likely because Ishiba called for Aso’s resignation when the former was prime minister.

While Ishiba is willing to compromise with opposition parties, as seen through political discussions on the nōdōteki saiba bōgyo hōritsu (Active Cyber Defense Law) which was passed last month, Sanae Takaichi would move towards an LDP administration focused on anti-China rhetoric rather than cooperating both within and outside the party, showing why she is controversial. She showcased this through her visit to Taiwan earlier this year as well as her campaign visit to the Yasukuni Shrine, where World War Two Japanese war criminals’ souls are enshrined alongside the general war dead, sparking anger from the Chinese government over both acts. Her opinions divided not only the views of other nations on the LDP, but also of LDP politicians themselves, which helped propel Ishiba into office as a moderate.  

Considering Ishiba’s cooperative attitude, and Aso’s support of a possible prime ministerial candidate antagonistic towards China, it is important to analyze the history of the Kōchikai and its splinter group, the Aso Faction, and how it has gone from its founding in 1957 under Prime Minister Hayato Ikeda as a compromise faction and transformed into a splinter group under Taro Aso. Prime Ministers Ikeda (1960-1964, and the founder of the Kōchikai) and Ōhira (1978-1980) were especially known for their compromising attitudes with both opposition parties and opposition factions in the LDP. While Ikeda was able to end the Miike Coal Mine Struggle of 1960 by forcing a sit-down between laborers and management to come to a compromise, his attempts to hold onto power rather than to compromise led the next prime minister, Eisaku Sato (1964-1972), to challenge Ikeda’s leadership within the party. Nevertheless, Ohira was most known for his cooperative attitude among all the leaders of the faction. 

Ōhira Masayoshi was known for his cooperative outlook towards politics, both within and outside the LDP. Ōhira once said to former Prime Minister Tanaka Kakuei (1972-1974), “...I’d like to have you say yes or no only after getting some consensus, first of all among the LDP, and also among the various government ministries, opposition parties, financial and labor circles, and so on” (289). This type of cooperation shows how he was willing to form a consensus not only inside the LDP but also with opposition parties, even as a cabinet member. This contrasts heavily with Kishida’s administration, known for its divisive foreign policy. 

Fumio Kishida very much embodied the turning point of the Kōchikai, shifting from a cooperative and compromising faction towards more of a hardline stance against China and Russia, focusing more on his own power, for better or worse. While many may see Kishida as a dove, both because of his membership in the Kōchikai and his anti-nuclear stance, as prime minister, he drew a hard line against Russia with its invasion of Ukraine, pushed back against Chinese maritime and airspace aggression, and worked side-by-side with the US to achieve American goals of Chinese isolation within the region. 

Overall, this shows how the Kōchikai, as one of the strongest and most important factions within the LDP, has transformed since 1957 from compromise to competition, abandoning the principles of both Hayato Ikeda and especially those of Ohira Masayoshi, opting for a US Alliance-centric diplomacy that compromised slightly on domestic issues, but not on foreign affairs. While the faction is now dissolved, it lives on through the Aso Faction and those who gather around Sanae Takaichi. Tanaka Kakuei, a follower of Eisaku Sato and a mentor to Shigeru Ishiba, shows how the roles of these factions have almost reversed since the 1950’s and 60’s, and how these factions are not set in stone, but rather are fluid and will continue to be changing if more form again in the future. Ishiba has focused on cooperation both within and outside of the party, as well as in foreign policy, whereas Tanaka (Ishiba’s mentor) had to be convinced by Ōhira in order to do so. For now, the factions are all but abolished. Still, if they were to come back, it would be more important than ever to understand the dynamics of the leaders that control these factions, as their actions can shift the entire faction towards one value or another, like Ohira and Kishida did in the past.