Japan Digest
Japan Digest · 2025/10/04
The Five LDP Presidential Candidates’ Stance Vis-à-vis Trump Administration President Trump has been pressing its allies and partners to increase defense spending. The Japanese government has already announced plans to raise security-related expenditures to 2% of GDP, but the Trump administration might demand even further increases. According to Nikkei, following are the individual stances of the five LDP Presidential candidates that were revealed a Japan National Press Club debate on the...
Japan Digest · 2025/10/04
New LDP Leadership Election Was Set To Be Held on October 4 As a result of the Liberal Democratic Party’s defeat in the recent House of Councillors election, internal pressure mounted to choose a new party president. A decision on whether to hold a leadership election was scheduled for September 8, based on the declarations of intent from the 47 prefectural party branches and incumbent LDP lawmakers. However, on the day before, September 7, Prime Minister Ishiba announced his resignation as...
Japan Digest · 2025/10/04
Ishiba Cabinet’s Approval Rating Sharply Increased To 39% Yomiuri conducted a nationwide opinion poll from the 22nd to the 24th of this month. The approval rating for the Ishiba Cabinet stood at 39%, up 17 points from the previous emergency survey in July (22%), which was carried out immediately after the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition partner Komeito suffered a crushing defeat in the House of Councillors election. The disapproval rating was 50% (down from 67% in the...
Japan Digest · 2025/10/04
Australia Announced Its Decision on New Naval Vessel Based on Modified Japanese Mogami-Class Frigate On August 5, the Japanese and Australian governments jointly announced that Australia has selected a new naval vessel based on a modified version of Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Force (MSDF) Mogami-class frigate, Yomiuri reported. This ship will serve as the foundation for the Royal Australian Navy’s planned fleet upgrade. For Japan, this marks the second case of exporting completed defense...
Japan Digest · 2025/10/04
Ruling Coalition Suffers Major Defeat in Upper House Election – Prime Minister Ishiba Vows to Stay On The House of Councillors (Upper House) election was held on the 20th, resulting in a major setback for the ruling coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and Komeito. The coalition lost a significant number of seats and failed to capture 50 seats to secure a majority, including those not up for re-election — the threshold Prime Minister Ishiba had set as a benchmark for victory....
Japan Digest · 2025/10/04
PM Ishiba And His Party Face An Uphill Battle For The Upcoming Election According to a public opinion poll conducted by NHK over three days starting July 4, Ishiba Cabinet’s approval rating dropped by 3 points compared to last month's survey, reaching 31%, the lowest level since the Cabinet was formed in October 2024. The Cabinet’s disapproval rating increased by 4 points to 50%. When asked whether they planned to vote in the House of Councillors election scheduled for July 20, 79% said...
Japan Digest · 2025/06/29
Ishiba Cabinet Sets Upper House Election for July 3 Announcement, July 20 Voting At a Cabinet meeting on the morning of June 24, it was decided that the upcoming House of Councillors (Upper House) election will be formally announced on July 3, with voting and ballot counting to take place on July 20. Key campaign issues are expected to include rising prices, rice policy, and how to respond to tariff measures imposed by the Trump administration in the United States. Of the House of Councillors'...
Japan Digest · 2025/06/29
PM Ishiba To Structure Campaign Pledges for the Upcoming House of Councillors Election Of This Summer On the 9th of June, Prime Minister Ishiba (also LDP President) instructed senior party officials to include in the party’s election platform a goal to raise Japan’s nominal GDP to 1,000 trillion yen by 2040. He also requested that the platform aim for an increase of more than 50% in the average national income. Later, speaking to reporters at the Prime Minister’s Office, he stated, “I...
Japan Digest · 2025/06/29
Ishiba Cabinet’s Approval Rating Stays Low According to a Nihon Keizai Shimbun and TV Tokyo’s joint opinion poll conducted over three days starting May 23, targeting people aged 18 and older across Japan: 34% of respondents said they "support" the Ishiba Cabinet, an increase of 1 percentage point compared to the April survey. Meanwhile, 60% said they "do not support" the Cabinet, no change from the last month. The policy issue that respondents most wanted the Prime Minister to prioritize...
Japan Digest · 2025/06/29
Ishiba Cabinet’s Approval Rating Drops By 2 Points According to an NHK opinion poll conducted over three days starting May 9, targeting people aged 18 and older across Japan: 33% of respondents said they "support" the Ishiba Cabinet, a decrease of 2 percentage points compared to the April survey. Meanwhile, 48% said they "do not support" the Cabinet, an increase of 3 percentage points. When asked whether they were concerned about the impact of the U.S. Trump administration’s tariff measures...