Overview
- The cabinet reshuffle on September 17 removed Hayashi Yoshimasa as minister and left him outside the Takaichi cabinet.
- Hayashi told a September 18 gathering in Tokyo that he will keep touring local areas he visited as minister and he declined to say whether he will run in the leadership contest.
- Prime Minister Takaichi used a written role-preference questionnaire to shape the September 17 personnel moves, a method that won some praise and prompted disappointment among candidates who missed posts.
- Hayashi's policy record — including leadership of the Japan–China friendship group and caution on a two-year food tax cut — sets him apart from Takaichi and helps explain why some lawmakers see him as a rallying point.
- Reports say Hayashi has been meeting like-minded LDP figures and holding local support events, a pattern that could tighten pressure on the prime minister by consolidating anti-Takaichi lawmakers ahead of the party vote.