Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida: Examining his Speech Style through Sociolinguistic Lens

Abstract

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has been Japan’s top political leader since October 2021. Following the terrible assassination of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in July 2022, Kishida strongly condemned the violent act. Yet, the media’s coverage has tended to emphasize the controversial close ties between Abe’s and Kishida’ LDP bloc and the Unification Church. Many Japanese citizens continue to criticize Kishida’s connections with the Church as well as his government’s justification for holding a state funeral for the late prime minister. The present paper examines how Kishida has been dealing with the recent overt criticism of these political and domestic issues. One finding shows that both Kishida’s “speaking” and “listening” skills are deficient. While initially appointed to Japan’s leadership due to his talent for “listening to others” (kiku chikara), Kishida now seems to have diminished, at least in his political speeches, in his communicative abilities to “kiku” (listen) and “hanasu” (speak). This study analyses Kishida’s skills within the theoretical framework of “involvement strategy” and the rapport-talking style in conversation. Kewwords: emotion, involvement, Japanese prime minister, speech style, rapport-talk