“Passing on the staff to the next generation”
Japan’s Prime Minister Ishiba announces resignation
07.09.2025 – 1:03 p.m.Reading time: 2 min.
Japan’s government party LDP lost the majority in parliament in July. Since then, the head of party and government Ishiba has been increasingly exposed to demands for resignation. Now he gives up.
After a number of election defeats, Japan’s Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba resigns. The 68-year-old instructed his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) on Sunday to quickly choose a new party leadership to clarify his successor. He would continue his official business until his successor was determined, he said at a press conference.
Since the former Defense Minister came to the top of the government in September, his coalition has lost its majorities in elections to both parliamentary chambers. The background is the resentment among the population about increased cost of living.
After the defeat in the Oberhaus election in July, Ishiba had rejected the demanding demands of withdrawal from his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). Instead, he focused on concluding a trade agreement with the United States in the past few weeks. He was able to mitigate the special tariffs raised by US President Donald Trump for the auto industry important in Japan.
In return, he agreed to investments of over $ 550 billion in the United States. “After Japan signed the trade agreement and the president signed the decree, we took an important hurdle,” said Ishiba in a visibly moving voice. “I would like to pass on the staff to the next generation.”
The speculation about Ishiba’s political future had increased after the LDP had set a vote on an extraordinary new election of the party leadership for Monday. The government crisis had also burdened the Yen and the Japanese government bonds. The return of the 30-year bond rose to a record high last week.
According to experts, a successor to Ishiba could call for new elections to strengthen his mandate. However, almost 55 percent of the survey of the Kyodo news agency published on Sunday consider an early choice to be unnecessary.
Ishibas party rival Sanae Takaichi and Minister of Agriculture Shinjiro Koizumi are traded as possible successors. Takaichi was just inferior to Ishiba in the runoff election around the LDP chairmanship last year and is considered a supporter of an expansive fiscal and monetary policy.
Koizumi had made a name for himself with his fight against the rapidly rising prices. “While no major changes are expected from Koizumi, Takaichi’s attitude to the expansive fiscal policy and their cautious approach in interest rate increases could be observed closely by the financial markets,” said Economist Kazeta Maeda from Meiji Yasuda Research Institute.
