News On Japan

Koizumi and Takaichi Emerge as Top Contenders for Next Prime Minister

TOKYO, Sep 08 (News On Japan) - Agriculture Minister Koizumi and former Economic Security Minister Takaichi tied as the top choices to succeed Prime Minister Ishiba in a JNN poll, with Ishiba himself ranking third. Support for the Ishiba Cabinet rose to 37.7% in September, while 41% of respondents said he should resign after the Upper House election defeat and 49% said he should not.

Support for the Ishiba Cabinet stood at 37.7% in September, up 0.9 points from the previous month, while disapproval fell 1.1 points to 59.4%. On September 6th, Ishiba announced his intention to step down, saying, "Responsibility for the election result rests with me as party president." Asked whether Ishiba should resign following the Upper House defeat, 41% said he should while 49% said resignation was unnecessary. Among Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) supporters, 73% said he should remain in office.

On the coalition’s campaign pledge of a uniform 20,000-yen cash handout, 33% said it should be implemented as promised, 28% said it should be targeted to specific groups, and 37% said it should not be carried out.

When asked who should succeed Ishiba, both Koizumi and Takaichi ranked first, followed by Ishiba himself in third.

Party support rates were as follows: LDP 23.3% (up 2.9 points), Constitutional Democratic Party 6.5% (down 0.4), Japan Innovation Party 4.7% (up 2.0), Democratic Party for the People 6.8% (down 1.9), Komeito 3.2% (down 0.8), Sanseito 8.5% (down 1.7), Reiwa Shinsengumi 2.7% (down 0.4), Japanese Communist Party 2.4% (up 0.3), Conservative Party 2.4% (up 0.6), Social Democratic Party 0.5% (up 0.2), Mirai 0.5% (down 1.1), others 0.9% (down 0.1), and no support 32.7% (down 0.5).

The survey was conducted nationwide on September 6th and 7th using RDD (random digit dialing) on both landlines and mobile phones. Out of 2,749 people contacted, 1,030 responded, a valid response rate of 37.5%. JNN noted that it avoids internet surveys, which tend to attract participants with strong personal interests, and instead relies on direct phone interviews with randomly selected respondents to ensure results closer to a representative sample of voters.

Source: TBS

News On Japan
POPULAR NEWS

Police have revealed that a woman killed by her former partner in Higashi-Osaka had sustained dozens of stab wounds across her body, including injuries that pierced internal organs.

Vast hillsides have been cleared for the construction of a large-scale solar power facility in Kamogawa, Chiba Prefecture, leaving piles of felled trees scattered across the slopes. The development covers approximately 146 hectares, or the size of 32 Tokyo Domes, and involves cutting down about 365,000 trees to make way for 470,000 solar panels.

OpenAI has unveiled its latest video generation AI, Sora2, which can produce realistic footage in about three minutes, including Japanese anime-style clips and composite videos featuring real individuals.

Former US President Donald Trump is arranging a three-day visit to Japan starting on October 27th, marking his first trip to the country in six years.

Maebashi Mayor Akira Ogawa held a closed-door meeting with all city council members on October 2nd to explain her repeated hotel meetings with a married senior city official, but afterward she avoided stating whether she would resign.

MEDIA CHANNELS
         

MORE Politics NEWS

Former US President Donald Trump is arranging a three-day visit to Japan starting on October 27th, marking his first trip to the country in six years.

Maebashi Mayor Akira Ogawa held a closed-door meeting with all city council members on October 2nd to explain her repeated hotel meetings with a married senior city official, but afterward she avoided stating whether she would resign.

Japan is about to hold the leadership election of the ruling party, and the winner will become the next prime minister. Five candidates are in the running this time. Some people say Japan is doomed no matter who wins. (Japanese Comedian Meshida)

The upcoming Liberal Democratic Party leadership election will determine not only who leads Japan’s ruling party but also who is likely to become the country’s next prime minister, and the voting system itself plays a decisive role in shaping the outcome. The election is decided by a combination of votes from LDP lawmakers in the National Diet and ballots cast by the party’s grassroots members across Japan, creating a two-stage process that balances national and local influence.

With the Liberal Democratic Party presidential election just days away, questions have emerged over the handling of a clerical error in Kanagawa Prefecture’s membership rolls, an organization chaired by Agriculture Minister Shinjiro Koizumi.

A bombshell report has surfaced in Kanagawa Prefecture, the political base of Shinjiro Koizumi, where as many as 826 members of the Liberal Democratic Party aligned with the Takaichi faction were treated as having resigned from the party without their consent, according to an investigation by the weekly magazine Bunshun.

An anti-immigration rally in Osaka on September 30th descended into chaos as nationalist groups and Antifa counter-protesters clashed in the streets, with loud chants, heated exchanges, and occasional physical altercations captured on camera.

In a September opinion poll conducted by TV Tokyo and the Nihon Keizai Shimbun, former Minister of State for Economic Security Takaichi was the frontrunner with 34% when respondents were asked who they believed should be the next Liberal Democratic Party president.