Overview

• Shigeru Ishiba said he will step down as Liberal Democratic Party president and will remain prime minister until a successor is chosen.
• His announcement cancels a planned Monday vote on advancing a leadership contest that had become a de facto no-confidence test.
• The decision follows election losses that left the LDP-Komeito coalition without majorities in both houses of parliament.
• Financial markets have signaled anxiety, with a weaker yen and Japan’s 30-year government bond yield hitting a record high last week.
• Ishiba cited the completion of a U.S. trade deal—Japan pledging about $550 billion in investments for lower auto tariffs by President Donald Trump—as a timing factor, and potential successors reported by Japanese media include Sanae Takaichi, Agriculture Minister Shinjiro Koizumi and Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi.