Time: 2006 Nov 15 12:00 - 14:00 Language: The speech and Q & A will be in Japanese with English interpretation. Summary: Professional Luncheon, Akihiro Ota, Chief Representative New Komeito Party Description: Akihiro Ota looks like he has his work cut out for him. In the first leadership change in nearly a decade, the New Komeito Party selected the 61 year old to manage the coalition with the dominant Liberal Democratic Party and its leader Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. On the surface relations in the eight-year-old coalition look calm. But the Abe administration's touchstone issues of constitutional and educational reform and a more robust defense are bound to roil the backers of Ota's party, the nation's largest lay Buddhist group, the dovish Soka Gakkai. That's despite Ota's remarks that Abe isn't as hawkish and conservative as the press makes him out to be. Key for the LDP because its Upper House members give it a majority in the chamber, the Komeito must balance between promoting its bread-and-butter health and welfare issues through the alliance and possibly alienating its bedrock supporters. As a small party, moreover, it risks being taken for granted. Some local media reports already say that its voice isn't being heard in the Abe government, which has pledged to further centralize decision making in the prime minister's office, and that Ota was caught off guard by Abe's announcement, immediately after taking office, of a summit with Chinese leaders. Ota graduated from the elite Kyoto University for both his undergraduate and graduate engineering degrees and joined the Komeito's newspaper after finishing school. Groomed for the Komeito's top job, Ota held a series of senior party posts until his inauguration in September, including campaign chief. Come hear what the former reporter for the party newspaper has to say about how the Komeito will handle the hawkish Abe administration, the prospects for next summer's crucial Upper House election and how it will make its voice heard in the coalition.

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