Overview

• Five candidates are in the race launched on Sept. 22, with Shinjiro Koizumi and Sanae Takaichi viewed in coverage as the main poles ahead of public debates.
• Koizumi stresses party unity and broad policy outreach, while Takaichi emphasizes a conservative platform including tighter immigration controls, a higher income tax threshold, refundable credits, and ending the provisional gasoline tax rate.
• Other contenders highlight contrasting appeals: Yoshimasa Hayashi projects stability, Toshimitsu Mogi underscores experience and backs enlarging a coalition, and Takayuki Kobayashi calls for generational change.
• With the LDP now a minority in both chambers, candidates prioritize opposition cooperation; party figures are also considering pushing the prime minister vote in a special Diet session to mid-October to allow negotiations, and leading candidates rule out an early Lower House dissolution.
• A Japan Press Club debate is set for Sept. 24, as outgoing Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba uses the UN stage to condemn Israel’s Gaza ground operation and signal potential new steps if a two‑state path is closed, while South Korea’s special prosecutor arrests Unification Church leader Han Hak‑ja over alleged gifts to the previous administration.