Prime Minister of Japan and leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) Shigeru Ishiba.
Kim Kyung – Hoon – Pool/Getty Images
It is obvious that Shigeru Ishiba did not read the job description when she became Prime Minister of Japan.
Back in October, Ishiba’s reputation as an idol and clean politician in principle allowed him to go beyond two leaders to play in the show. However, over time, Ishiba has managed it in a way that raises the questions that all of the above problems.
in principle? He is not turning his tail to his head after he has transformed almost all his long-standing beliefs from interest rates to yen to foreign policy. Idol crumbs? Almost nothing, Isbon adopted all the Liberal Democratic strategies he spent on professional criticism.
Clean? Well, as Ishiba is tripped by the gift certificate scandal that has become the unfortunate sign of free remittance. As economic stagnation, the controversy is bringing his approval deeper into the dirt.
As the national elections in July approached quickly, Ishiba’s days seemed absolutely numbered. Almost the only thing that can save Ishiba is to compete with Donald Trump. as if. On February 7, when Ispibon finally sat down as Trump was sitting down, it was a long list of world leaders.
Strangely, considering Trump’s only real friend among his Democratic counterparts during his presidency from 2017-2021 was Shinzo Abe, Ishiba’s natural party companion. This time, Prince William obtained the time period under the leadership of the Japanese leader. Ouch!
Now, Japan is discovering through news reports that Trump could rock Japan’s 2025 ways — from tariffs on cars to weak yen to shaking Tokyo’s billions of dollars in payments to maintain U.S. troops.
Ishiba’s administration must report to Google who Trump’s latest Japanese ambassador is. George Glass is a little-known real estate developer in Oregon, and this is not a heavyweight to Asia’s highest ally.
However, the real scandal in office clubs that will likely be relegated to Japan within 12 months is the economy of future Trump storm.
As Trump prepares to pay all the relevant taxes, trade containment and arcane laws that his team can imagine on the global economy, 200 years ago, the pre-existing conditions of Japan are surfaced and swiftly. The sharpest thing is a rigid system that is not ready to meet challenges from China or the “global south” countries.
The tragedy here is how Tokyo has wasted over the past 12 years. In December 2012, Trump’s partner Shinzo Abe returned to power for the second time. Shinzo Abe has achieved it with a splash plan to internationalize the labor market, cut bureaucracy, improve productivity, support start-ups, empower women, import more global talents and strengthen capital markets.
Shinzo Abe has some victories in the latest areas, prompting the chiefs to improve their corporate governance game. However, for the most part, Abe tricked Japanese banks into actively relaxing to reduce the yen and end deflation.
The weak counterattack against Trojans makes it completely different. Soaring global commodity prices make Japan’s poorest Japan the only one that is prone to importing “bad” inflation. Now, with wages growing with growth and inflation, Japan’s stagnation is on the rise.
This means that even good news for Japanese companies can be bad. Soon, we will find out the union may score in this year’s Shunto negotiations. Say workers will experience 5% bumps. Unless matched with productivity gains, Japan is just sowing seeds of inflation, even higher than the 4% rate recorded in January.
There seems to be no environment conducive to increasing consumption, or the ruling party in Japan has been telegraphing since 2012.
It is not an environment, either, and it may make voters look at the way they attack the Ishiba government in a scandal. Ishiba’s office allegedly gave a gift voucher of 100,000 yen ($672) to a group of rookie NDP MPs, a real none in Tokyo politics.
The real anger, though, is that Ishiba spent 170 days in the office without a significant economic upgrade to his name.
Although Shinzo Abe lasted for nearly eight years and Isbon’s predecessor Fumio Kishida lasted for three years, most Japanese leaders took office for only one year. Ishiba seems destined to join this short-term club.
No one knows which political revolving door might spit out next in Tokyo. The leader will face an enviable task of bringing Japan’s reform process back on track – just like Trump 2.0’s worst case scenario for the global trading system.
Yes, it seems to be 20/20 in hindsight. But imagine if Abe improves Japan’s competitiveness from 2012 to 2020, or if Yoshihide Suga (2020-2021) and Kishida (2021-2024) work to make Japan’s innovative spirit that has changed the world’s change in innovation and reduces the role of exports and reduces the role of supercurrencies, then Yoshihide Suga (2020-2021) and Kishida (2021-2024) are committed to improving Japan’s competitiveness, imagine, imagine, imagine, imagine, imagine, imagine, imagine, imagine, imagine, imagine,
The cost of chronic complacency. These fees are rising as Trump’s tariffs slow down with China and the pace of Japanese policy makers occur rarely. If only Japan has better economic health to deal with these challenges, as well as new challenges.
Ishiba is lucky in one way: Chinese leader Xi Jinping is too slow to end the national property crisis, increase domestic demand and reduce deflationary power. However, as China accelerates Asia’s economic clock, Japanese leaders continue to bet on the wrong time around them.
