Overview

• Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba met Keidanren chairman Tsutsui Yoshinobu at the Kantei on Sept. 17, confirming a joint government–private sector approach to a US tariffs agreement.
• Chief Cabinet Secretary Hayashi Yoshimasa formally declared his candidacy for the LDP presidency, with the race to be announced Sept. 22 and voted Oct. 4, and former minister Takaichi Sanae signaled she will run with a press conference set for Sept. 19.
• Fukui Prefectural assembly member Kitagawa Hiroki served Tsuruga City a damages notice on Aug. 27 over the death of his son, a nuclear disaster-prevention official, citing unacceptable disciplinary actions and vowing to sue if talks fail.
• Echizen City hosted a lecture reflecting on scholar Wakaizumi Takashi’s work ahead of donating his will to the Okinawa Prefectural Archives, drawing renewed attention to the Okinawa reversion-era ‘secret agreement.’
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said forces cleared Russian troops from 170 square kilometers and nine settlements in Donetsk, describing the operation as a counteroffensive.