Japan\u2019s Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said on Sunday he would step down after less than a year in power, during which he lost his majority in both houses of parliament.<\/p>\n
The announcement means fresh uncertainty for the world\u2019s fourth-largest economy as it battles rising food prices and deals with the fallout of US tariffs on its vital auto sector.<\/p>\n
Ishiba told a news conference that the long-dominant Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) should prepare for a leadership election, and he would stay in position until then.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow that negotiations on US tariff measures have reached a conclusion, I believe this is the appropriate moment,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have decided to step aside and make way for the next generation,\u201d said the 68-year-old.<\/p>\n
US President Donald Trump signed an order on Thursday to lower tariffs on Japanese autos, with Washington finally moving to implement a trade pact negotiated with Tokyo in July.<\/p>\n
However, although Japanese autos will now face a 15 percent tariff instead of the current 27.5 percent, the levy will still cause significant pain in the crucial industry.<\/p>\n
Seen as a safe pair of hands, Ishiba took the helm of the LDP in September 2024 and became the 10th man in the party to serve as prime minister since 2000.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have switched prime ministers many times,\u201d said 25-year-old Yuri Okubo, speaking from a Tokyo park on a hot afternoon.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m worried that no matter who the new prime minister will be, nothing will change.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mounting resignation calls<\/p>\n
Opponents of Ishiba had been calling for him to step down to take responsibility for dire election results, following the party\u2019s poor performance in an upper chamber vote in July.<\/p>\n
Lower house elections in October 2024 saw the LDP suffer its worst result in 15 years.<\/p>\n
Media reports said earlier that Ishiba wanted to avoid a split in the party and that he was unable to withstand the mounting calls for his resignation.<\/p>\n
The farm minister and a former prime minister reportedly met with Ishiba on Saturday night to urge him to resign voluntarily.<\/p>\n
Four senior LDP officials, including the party\u2019s number two Hiroshi Moriyama, offered to resign last week.<\/p>\n
Ishiba\u2019s term as party leader was supposed to end in September 2027.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile striving to accommodate many people and foster harmony, my sincere efforts resulted in losing my particular path,\u201d Ishiba said, adding he would not run in the leadership race.<\/p>\n
His most prominent rival, hardline nationalist Sanae Takaichi, was the runner-up in the last leadership election and all but said on Tuesday that she would seek a contest.<\/p>\n
A Nikkei survey held at the end of August put Takaichi as the most \u201cfitting\u201d successor to Ishiba, followed by farm minister Shinjiro Koizumi, but 52 percent of respondents said a leadership contest was unnecessary.<\/p>\n
After the July election, social media users called for the moderate Ishiba to remain in power under the hashtag \u201c#Ishiba Don\u2019t quit\u201d.<\/p>\n
The LDP has governed almost continuously since 1955, but voters have been deserting the party, including towards fringe groups such as the populist Sanseito.<\/p>\n
Factors include rising prices, notably for rice, falling living standards, and anger at corruption scandals within the LDP.<\/p>\n
Ishiba, a diligent career politician, was elected LDP leader last year on his fifth attempt, promising a \u201cnew Japan\u201d.<\/p>\n
Both China and South Korea welcomed his appointment then, hoping for improved ties.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Japan\u2019s Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said on Sunday he would step down after less than a year in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10689,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[174],"tags":[72,191,189,188,190,2749],"class_list":{"0":"post-10688","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-asia","9":"tag-economy","10":"tag-economy-of-japan","11":"tag-japans-economy","12":"tag-japanese-economy","13":"tag-tariffs"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10688","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10688"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10688\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10689"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/japan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}