Overview

• Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba announced he will step down as party president and prime minister and will not run in the interim leadership election.
• The LDP canceled a Sept. 8 plan to confirm Diet members’ intentions after 24 prefectural federations pressed for an accelerated contest, crossing a majority of local chapters.
• Ishiba cited a milestone in negotiations over U.S. tariffs and framed his exit as a move to avoid deepening party divisions and to maintain government function.
• Potential successors began positioning, with former economic security minister Takanori Kobayashi saying he is consulting colleagues and interest coalescing around younger figures such as Shinjirō Koizumi.
• Foreign outlets, especially in South Korea, highlighted concerns over implications for Japan–Korea relations and possible policy drift following the ruling coalition’s electoral setbacks.