To the average Japanese person, particularly those with little interest in or knowledge of politics, that matters. In fact, I think it's something even more politically engaged people & policy professionals can appreciate. Charisma may at times be undervalued, but it is rarely underappreciated.

To be clear, this isn't an endorsement of her politics. It's an observation that she undoubtedly strikes a much more confident, compelling silhouette than many previous PMs & other politicians who often appear some combination of geriatric, tired, or disheveled.

(And to be fair to the Mainichi they led with this interesting story about Koreans students and the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake - mainichi.jp/articles/202... - paywalled)

I had really hoped I had just somehow missed the coverage, but. Nope. There just wasn't a whole lot of coverage to begin with.
Disappointing & infuriating, but also entirely unsurprising. It would be nice to see some consequences but who am I kidding.

Its almost like trying to run from a trade policy you very publicly spent years negotiating with key allies, because it’s an election year and you need a gesture to show voters how much you “care” is a bad idea, that doesn’t even reliably generate the desired electoral result 🙄