Showing 1 - 8 of 8
Ishiba's exit may lead to turmoil
News, Tomoyuki Tachikawa, Published on 28/07/2025
» Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's resignation could herald a political turmoil in Japan, as no decisive winner emerged from the latest House of Councillors election, in which the ruling bloc suffered a major setback.
Japan faces upheaval as LDP bloc loses majority
News, Alastair Gale & Yuki Hagiwara & Yoshiaki Nohara, Published on 29/10/2024
» Japan faces a period of political instability after the ruling coalition failed to win a majority in parliament for the first time since 2009, setting up a race among two main blocs to form a government.
Shigeru Ishiba's premiership could be short
News, Taniguchi Tomohiko, Published on 02/10/2024
» After a 15-day election campaign, Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has elected Shigeru Ishiba as its president. Since the ruling party holds a majority in the National Diet (parliament), Mr Ishiba will be Japan's next prime minister. For the 67-year-old Mr Ishiba, long a leading rival of the late Shinzo Abe, ascending to the post is the realisation of a long-held dream. But Mr Ishiba's political star will likely soon fall.
PM's resignation opens the door to a chaotic era
News, Gearoid Reidy, Published on 16/08/2024
» In the end, Fumio Kishida could not escape the pull of gravity.
Japan's media has to account for its own failures
News, Gearoid Reidy, Published on 16/10/2023
» The recent downfalls in Japan of the Unification Church and J-pop agency Johnny & Associates seem to be, on the face of it, victories for justice: Two odious groups that used their outsized clout for years to cover up noxious acts have at last been hobbled, if not eliminated.
Japan is facing a fiscal dilemma
News, Takatoshi Ito, Published on 06/02/2023
» Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida recently unveiled an ambitious plan to double the country's defence budget to ¥43 trillion, roughly 2% of Japan's GDP, over the next five years. Notably, the country's massive rearmament programme, its biggest since the end of World War II, has not triggered a political or public backlash. With Japan facing multiple security threats, including North Korean missile tests, Chinese coast-guard ships encroaching on its territorial waters and Russia's militarisation of the disputed Kuril Islands (known in Japan as the Northern Territories), polls show public support for the proposed increase.
Abe's expensive state funeral divides taxpayers
News, Yuki Hagiwara and Isabel Reynolds, Published on 23/09/2022
» In a country where voters are increasingly opposed to a state funeral for Shinzo Abe, support for the event remains high among younger Japanese who see themselves as having benefited from his economic policies during his record run as premier.
Abe takes aim at pacifist charter
News, Kavi Chongkittavorn, Published on 10/09/2019
» The ongoing trade dispute between Japan and South Korea should by no means hinder Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's ambition to change his country's pacifist constitution. Mr Abe will soon break two records as leader of the world's third-largest economy. On Nov 20, 2019, he will become the country's longest-serving prime minister, surpassing Katsura Taro, who served a total 2,886 days over three terms from 1901-1906, 1908-1911 and 1912-1913. Mr Abe's first term as prime minister lasted only a year, from September 2006-Oct 2007, due to health reasons.