Japan's former economic security minister Takayuki Kobayashi said Monday that he will run in the ruling party's presidential election next month, becoming the first among the numerous likely contenders to declare his candidacy to succeed Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.Kobayashi, a Harvard-educated former Finance Ministry bureaucrat, has received support from relatively young members of the Liberal Democratic Party who want to revamp its image, tainted by a slush funds scandal revealed late last year.The ruling party is scheduled to hold the election as Kishida, whose three-year term expires a…READ FULL ARTICLE
