Japan: PM Fumio Kishida’s tough summer ends with his exit

Although there have been many corruption scandals in the past, this latest scandal comes at a painful time.

“The economic situation has affected people’s mentality,” said Professor Murakami. “People have suffered a lot from [Covid] The crisis. They can barely pay their bills. But now [they see] “Politicians with huge sums of money won’t pay taxes on it” – referring to the Liberal Democrats’ admission that some MPs had not reported their income correctly.

Although his popularity at home has been in steep decline, Kishida has been a major success on the international stage. He was Japan’s longest-serving foreign minister before becoming prime minister. As prime minister, he hosted the Group of Seven summit last year, visited Ukraine, and thawed relations with South Korea, a crucial ally against both China and North Korea.

Relations with Washington are as strong as ever. He addressed Congress earlier this year at the invitation of President Biden — and received a standing ovation.

“Thank you,” he told his audience. “I have never received such a warm applause from the Japanese parliament.” [parliament].

In Japan, Japanese media criticized the visit, with one headline reading: “Kishida should not use summit as tool for domestic politics.”

If that was the goal, it didn’t work. Mr. Kishida was bogged down in fighting on too many fronts—and his party and voters were running out of patience.

“People are voting on issues that are in their financial interests,” said Professor Kingston. “It’s great that he’s going to go around NATO, the EU and the US. Ultimately, I want to see more income in my portfolio.”

Mr Kishida said the LDP needed a fresh start – and needed to convince the Japanese people that it was capable of change.

The opposition is still too weak and divided to be a viable option, but there is a great deal of mistrust within the ruling party.

Can a different face at the top unite the LDP and repair its tarnished image? Only September will tell.