日本語

Prime Minister Ishiba Announces Resignation and Attention turns to Next LDP President

The weekend of September 6th proved to be a hectic two days not only for The Liberal Democratic Party(hereinafter called LDP) of Japan but also for self-identified liberals.
Prime Minister Ishiba announced his resignation.

After Ishiba became Prime Minister, LDP suffered consecutive crushing defeats in the House of Representatives election, Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly election, and House of Councillors election.
Even so, Prime Minister Ishiba stubbornly refused to resign, stating, “We should not create a political vacuum” and “The responsibility of the largest party…”.
In response, both ruling and opposition parties, as well as the public, repeatedly urged him, saying, “The people have judged you” and “You should accept the will of the people”.

Next LDP President !!!

Did they have a bad feeling ?
People who had been saying so strongly, “Accept the will of the people !” and “Ishiba should take responsibility for the election !” suddenly started shouting, “Ishiba, don’t resign !” and even held demonstrations.
Moreover, it seems the core of this movement was made up of supporters of the opposition parties who were self-identified liberals.

The LDP’s crushing defeat is said to be largely due to the withdrawal of its conservative supporters. This clearly confirms that point.
Self-identfied liberals point out that even LDP supporters were shouting “ Ishiba, don’t resign !” That’s because the LDP was the most diverse party. And it’s likely that the majority who remained LDP supporters were self-identifed liberals.

Former Prime Minister Kishida, Prime Minister Ishiba, and the LDP seems to have shifted its course toward the left.
Some LDP members claim the party is “conservative-centrist,” yet their views often lean more Left than that.

Why is discussing national defense labeled as “extreme conservatism” or “ extreme right” ?
In Japan, self-identified liberals often say that the military is unnecessary (the Self-Defense Forces are unnecessary) or that when attacked by another country, we should act in the spirit of Article 9 of the Constitution… In other words, it’s like saying Japan should just disappear.
To people with such extreme views, national defense must indeed look like the extreme right.
And many of the old media outlets doing business in Japan share this same perspective.
It’s a strange country.

Five people are running in the next LDP Presidential Election. (September 15, 2025)

The LDP is analyzing the results of the House of Councillors election and identifying key issues.
Even so, if they elect someone aligned with former Prime Minister Ishiba as president, it would signal the LDP has rejected its conservative base and shifted toward the left.
In that case, it may secretly be considering a coalition or merger with the Constitutional Democratic Party to restore itself as the largest party.

This is our personal opinion.
We do not want our children and grandchildren to be forever forced to reflect and apologize to other nations.
We believe we should learn from past experiences and build constructive relationships with other countries for the future.
For this reason, we consider the upcoming LDP Presidential election to be extremely important.

Reference: NIKKEI(2025/07/22)
https://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXZQOUA201MA0Q5A720C2000000

Reference: NHK(2025/09/07)
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20250907/k10014915751000.html

Reference: LPD report (2025/09/13)
https://storage2.jimin.jp/pdf/news/information/211343_1.pdf

Reference: ASAHI Shinbun (2025/09/01)
https://www.asahi.com/articles/AST8H3H7ZT8HOXIE018M.html

Thanks.
2025/09/14