Embattled Japanese PM Shigeru Ishiba to resign, media report • FRANCE 24 English

to James Sims, a Tokyo based freelance journalist. Hello to you, James. Um, first of all, was this announcement a surprise? It was not because there has been a great deal of pressure on him to resign since last year when they lost the lower house of parliament. And so right now after losing both the lower house and the upper house, this is the first time that the LDP, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, uh, in its 70-year history has lost both houses of parliament. And they also lost a Tokyo election. So usually after one major election loss, the prime minister will resign and will hold a new party election. Um, but Ishiba has has tried to cling, I think, to basically stay on for a full year. um even if he if he does quit then he would probably be I think the fourth uh prime minister there would be a fourth prime minister in less than five years and that’s remarkable for Japan because a decade ago that would have been unthinkable um a press conference has been scheduled for later today but in the meantime James what what do you think is is next for the country well there the ruling Liberal Democratic Party is going to have to hold a party election to elect its new president. But because the lower house is not controlled by the ruling coalition, uh they will have to work with uh opposition parties to elect a new prime minister. And so that will mean that the coalition, the ruling coalition will be in a weak position to try to get its policies through because they will have to compromise with the opposition. So it’s going to be a very um tough road I think for uh the ruling Liberal Democratic Party. Yeah. Real quickly, any names being floated out as favorites to replace Ishiba? Well, there um actually quite a few people that have run in previous elections. One of them uh could be uh the son of one of the most popular uh post-war prime ministers. Jun Koisami, his son Shinjokis, is currently the agricultural minister in the current cabinet and he was actually one of the people um who indicated that uh the current prime minister should resign. Um, and then there are a few other people. Interestingly, I was at an event uh yesterday uh for a book a book event for a former Japanese politician. And I had a brief chance to talk to the current uh chief cabinet secretary and he’s actually one of the potential candidates. He’s a former uh ex um defense minister and foreign minister and who um is very well-versed in different sort of policies as well as he’s fluent in English. And then there’s also another uh maybe sort of a further uh possibility is Sai Taki. She has run I think two or three times to become the Japanese party president. She’s much more conservative um but has had several ministerial roles and has also been the LDP policy chief. James, thanks so much. James Sims reporting from Tokyo.

Japan’s Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has decided to step down, local media reported on Sunday, as members of his ruling party seek to hold a new leadership race following disastrous upper house elections. James Simms, a freelance journalist based in Tokyo reports on the political crisis.
#Japan #PrimeMinister #resignation

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28 comments

  4. Attention Japan! Take the opportunity to vote no to immigration! Don’t listen to those who say “it is essential for the economy”. Look at Europe, North America, and Australia. Japan has survived without immigration and will continue to do so for many years!

  8. コイツは日本史上稀に見るアホ
    くそったれのイカれ野郎の石破ゲル
    このアホの頭に爆撃して良いよ
    岸田のアホと一緒にアメリカに連れ去って拘束してくれませんかね

  9. Well… he was very unpopular with his own people. Japanese people felt like he loved China more. Also, not being strict with foreigners in Japan. Plus a stagnant economy.

  17. All US led democracies, including EU, Japan, S. Korea, share the same problem, selling out their people for the interest of US oligarchs and Washington in exchange for briberies. Take a lot of briberies and democratically leave without consequence. 🤣🤣

  19. Good! Japan needs a PM who has the balls to kick out the foreigners. Ishiba was a disaster for Japan. They need strong yen policy to reduce tourism while making each individual tourist more profitable. And they need to shift back toward manufacturing and away from tourism. Also, they need to stop bankrupting their country and cut spending. Decades of inflation have impoverished their youth and retirees alike.

  25. It is possible that Trump may impose a 100 percent tariff on India but we are already working on new markets and trade deals with over 70 countries ministers and diplomats are moving fast to secure free trade agreements with other nations India will not bow to Trump or the US because no matter how much you try to please a bully he will always return with new tariffs and pressure he will never be satisfied we Indians are not afraid of him and we hold no hatred toward the American people this is about self respect Trump still views the Global South with a colonial mindset but the world has changed it is moving toward a multipolar order we do not depend on the US for security the Indian Army by itself is one of the strongest forces in the world

  26. I fear Trump might say from now on Japan is the 52nd state of the US since he once called Canada the 51st and then South Korea could become the 53rd because it has also bowed before Trump sorry

  28. Shinjiro Koizumi is only supported by the left-wing media, but he is not popular among the people. The media in Japan is all left-wing. They supported Ishiba last time.

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