Japan PM stays on to fulfill 'responsibility' despite election defeat
YURIKA YONEDA
TOKYO -- Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Monday said, "We must humbly and sincerely accept the results of this election," a day after the ruling coalition's defeat in an upper house election, while also formally expressing his intention to continue as prime minister.
"While deeply aware of our grave responsibility for the election results, we must fulfill our responsibilities ... to the nation and its people, and ensure that politics does not come to a standstill," he said at a news conference.
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Yomiuri Shimbun
4 minutes ago
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Prime Minister Ishiba to Step down: Make Announcement Early to Allow Quick Formation of New Administration
Perhaps Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba is thinking that he cannot toss out his administration given the schedule of important domestic and diplomatic events ahead. However, if Ishiba, having now become a lame duck, delays the announcement of his resignation, he will only prolong the political chaos. Ishiba initially indicated he would stay in office after his ruling coalition suffered a crushing defeat in the House of Councillors election, but now he likely is resolved to step down. It is believed that the conclusion of tariff negotiations with the United States prompted his decision to resign. However, on the surface, Ishiba still asserts a desire to run the government. During a meeting with three former prime ministers — Taro Aso, Yoshihide Suga and Fumio Kishida — he made no clear statement on whether he would step down, he said. In the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, including in its local organizations, there is a growing movement calling for Ishiba to step down. In accordance with party rules, a campaign has begun to collect signatures to bring forward the party presidential election. If a majority of the party's Diet members and representatives from its prefectural chapters support this motion, a presidential election is supposed to be held. When the party presidency becomes vacant part way through a presidential term, for example, the party rules allow for the LDP's Diet members to vote on a leader at a general meeting of lawmakers in both houses, with no vote by rank-and-file members. This is meant to minimize as much as possible the risk of a political vacuum. With Ishiba's three consecutive losses as LDP president — in last year's House of Representatives election, the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly election and the recent upper house election — it is obvious that he no longer has the people's trust. It is quite natural that there is a movement within the LDP calling for Ishiba to step down. However, Ishiba has indicated he will meet with U.S. President Donald Trump after an agreement was reached in Japan-U.S. tariff talks. In August, memorial services are scheduled to be held on the anniversaries of the end of World War II and the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD), in which Japan has long taken the lead, will be held in Yokohama from Aug. 20 to 22. Ishiba plans to attend all of these events. Lawmakers close to Ishiba believe that a formal announcement of his resignation will be made after these events. However, if he delays his announcement, the party will not be able to officially start the process of choosing a new president. Japan's credibility abroad will suffer if intra-party strife intensifies and politics continues to be unstable. It would also be difficult for the ruling parties, which now comprise a minority in both houses of the Diet, to find a partner with whom to work toward a new coalition. In fact, Yoshihiko Noda, president of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, has called for Ishiba's resignation, saying, 'Will he stay in office by ignoring the will of the people?' Seiji Maehara, co-representative of the Japan Innovation Party, has also rejected the idea of forming a coalition with the Ishiba administration, and indicated that if the JIP were to cooperate, it would be with a 'post-Ishiba' LDP. In order to quickly choose a new party president who can readily cooperate with the opposition, Ishiba should announce his resignation soon, taking the formal agreement in Japan-U.S. tariff talks as his main achievement in office. (From The Yomiuri Shimbun, July 25, 2025)
NHK
33 minutes ago
- NHK
Japan PM Ishiba meets other party leaders to explain US tariff deal
Japan's Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru has told leaders of the ruling and opposition parties that the country's tariff deal with the United States was reached in a way that meets the national interests of both sides. The party leaders met on Friday morning. The participants alongside Ishiba were: Noda Yoshihiko of Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, Maehara Seiji of Japan Innovation Party, Tamaki Yuichiro of Democratic Party for the People, Saito Tetsuo of Komeito, Kamiya Sohei of Sanseito, Oishi Akiko of Reiwa Shinsengumi and Tamura Tomoko of Japanese Communist Party. Ishiba said at the start of the meeting that since he made a proposal to US President Donald Trump in February, the Japanese side consistently called strongly for US officials to prioritize investment over tariffs. The prime minister went on to say that this has resulted in an agreement that meets the national interests of Japan and the US while protecting what needs to be protected. He noted that he received various opinions at the three previous meetings of party leaders, and expressed gratitude for their suggestions. Ishiba is believed to have explained the contents of the deal with the US, expressed intent to take all possible measures to support domestic industries, such as consultations on financing, and asked for the leaders' cooperation.
The Mainichi
an hour ago
- The Mainichi
Japan PM vows 'steady' implementation of US tariff deal
TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said Friday he wants to oversee the "steady" implementation of a recently clinched trade deal with the United States as the embattled leader met with opposition leaders amid pressure from inside his own party to resign. Yuichiro Tamaki, head of the Democratic Party for the People, told reporters after the meeting that Ishiba seemed to show a "strong desire" to stay on as premier to see the agreement take effect despite the dismal outcome for the prime minister's ruling coalition in Sunday's upper house election. Some opposition party leaders, meanwhile, said Ishiba failed to allay their concerns about the agreement and the fact that it has not yet been put into writing. The leaders' talks, lasting more than an hour at the Diet, were the first since Japan and the United States clinched the trade agreement in Washington on Tuesday, days after the House of Councillors election. "My worries instead deepened," Tamaki said after the meeting. "We don't know whether the negative impact on the economy and companies can be minimized with the deal." The trade agreement sets 15 percent auto and "reciprocal" tariffs on Japan, lower than U.S. President Donald Trump had envisioned. It also includes a scheme for $550 billion worth of Japanese investment in the United States. "We have come to an agreement with the United States that protects the national interests of both nations," Ishiba told his fellow party leaders at the Diet. The tariff deal, after rounds of talks at the ministerial and summit levels, came at a sensitive time for Ishiba, with his Liberal Democratic Party suffering its worst election performance in years and the ruling camp including its junior coalition partner, Komeito, now left without majority control of both houses of parliament. He has so far sought to brush aside calls from some LDP members to step down, saying that he should tackle the challenges facing the country. The lowering of the auto and reciprocal tariffs to 15 percent from a combined 27.5 percent and a proposed country-specific 25 percent, respectively, gave some relief to Japanese automakers and other exporters, lifting Japanese share prices. A day after the deal was announced, however, the United States said Japan will buy $8 billion in U.S. farm and food goods, such as corn, soybeans, fertilizer and bioethanol. It also said the Asian ally will increase purchases of U.S.-made commercial aircraft, including 100 Boeing planes, and defense equipment worth "additional billions of dollars annually." Japanese government officials have said there is no discrepancy between the two nations regarding the agreement. At a government task force meeting earlier in the day, Ishiba instructed officials to take all possible steps to cope with the impact of the U.S. tariffs, which economists expect will still slow the export-driven economy. Yoshihiko Noda, head of the largest opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, said the tariff agreement should be formalized in writing at a bilateral summit. Speaking to reporters, he also revealed that he stressed the need for the government to draw up an economic package to address the tariff fallout. Ishiba did not make any mention of compiling a supplementary budget for the current fiscal year through next March or whether he will step down or not, according to Noda.
