Overview

• Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi moved to contain fallout after saying he might not have offered the coalition’s uniform ¥20,000 payout and that the prime minister’s resignation after the Upper House defeat was only natural, remarks he made on an internet program on September 18.
• Senior LDP lawmaker Junichi Ishii criticized party leaders for appointing Hirofumi Shimomura as Tokyo’s 11th district chapter head, citing a former Abe faction accountant’s testimony that Shimomura pushed to resume kickback practices in fundraising.
• Former policy chief Koichi Hagiuda publicly endorsed Sanae Takaichi for party leader in a blog post, framing her bid as a path to Japan’s first female prime minister and questioning pledges to continue Ishiba administration policies.
• With the leadership vote accelerating, analysis notes Shigeru Ishiba is likely to leave office without ever holding a summit with Vladimir Putin, as Japan–Russia leader-level contact has been frozen since a 25-minute phone call on February 17, 2022.
• The 11th Regional Coast Guard Headquarters said the U.S. Navy ship New Orleans that caught fire off White Beach on August 20 had ammunition onboard and that authorities received no detailed information about it from the U.S. side.