PM Ishiba Resigns in Japan (LDP): G7 Inertia
Kanako Mita, Sawako Utsumi, and Kazuko Abe
Modern Tokyo Times
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba of Japan has announced his resignation following two significant electoral defeats. It is important to note, however, that the first of these losses was largely the result of internal turmoil within the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), rather than any direct failing on Ishiba’s part.
However, the second electoral setback for the LDP underscored Ishiba’s inability to rally the party. In light of this, recent remarks from senior LDP figures suggest that Ishiba “jumped” before he was “pushed.”
Ishiba – putting a brave face on – said: “Having reached a milestone in the U.S. tariff negotiations, I decided now is the time to make way for a successor.”
The BBC reports, “The LDP has governed Japan for most of the past seven decades, but under Ishiba it lost its majority in the lower house for the first time in 15 years and then lost its majority in the upper house in July.”
Yoshihide Suga, a former Prime Minister, and Shinjiro Koizumi—the son of a former leader and a prominent political figure in his own right—both urged Ishiba to step down. As influential voices within the LDP, their counsel carried weight, and Ishiba regarded their advice with genuine sincerity. Faced with the risk of a deepening internal rift within the party and the growing shadow of political instability, Ishiba ultimately chose the only realistic course of action left to him: resignation.
In recent decades, under the leadership of the LDP, Japan’s long-suffering workers have seen little meaningful improvement in their circumstances. Aside from a growing sense of national decline—a sentiment echoed in other major economies such as the United Kingdom, where mass immigration remains one of the few constants (unpopular in many circles outside of the political class)—real progress has been elusive.
Henceforth, Japanese workers continue to face eroding labor rights, persistent uncertainty over long-term pensions, a shrinking population, rising living costs, and a cycle of government stimulus measures funded by the taxes and savings of ordinary citizens.
Lee Jay Walker (Modern Tokyo Times analyst) says, “In truth, major political parties across France, Germany, and the United Kingdom—where the Conservative Party is in disarray and the ruling Labour Party struggles with waning popularity—are facing a similar crisis of public trust as Japan’s LDP. Vast segments of the electorate have grown disillusioned, with many non-voters having long since given up on the promise of democracy. Against this backdrop, Ishiba and the ruling LDP—despite ongoing scandals over political funding and other controversies—now find themselves confronting both ‘new political winds of change’ and deepening political apathy.”
AP News reports, “Possible candidates to replace Ishiba include Agriculture Minister Shinjiro Koizumi, as well as ultra-conservative former economic security minister Sanae Takaichi and Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi, a moderate and the protege of former Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.”
However, regardless of who leads the LDP—the dominant party in Japan for many decades—the party remains burdened by a legacy of prolonged failures. This mirrors challenges faced by other G7 nations, where issues of high national debt and mass immigration, as seen in countries such as France and the United Kingdom, contribute to growing social divisions and a pervasive sense of hopelessness.
Lee Jay Walker says, “Globalism, democracy, and political inertia—combined with relentless anti-China and anti-Russian rhetoric spanning from Japan to the United Kingdom—have grown wearisome, gradually eroding the very foundations of democracy. Meanwhile, mass debt, warmongering, and declining birth rates across the G7 and European Union have become systematic and deeply entrenched challenges, with failure seeming inevitable under the leadership of the ruling parties in these nations.”
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