Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced at a press conference at the prime minister’s office in Tokyo on Wednesday that he will not run in the party leadership election scheduled for September. Philipp Fong/Pool/AP Hide caption
Toggle caption
Philip Fong/The Associated Press
SEOUL, South Korea — Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said he will step down next month, signalling possible political uncertainty in Japan, one of America’s closest allies in Asia.
Foreign Minister Kishida’s announcement came as Japanese citizens were celebrating their traditional Obon holiday.
At a press conference, the Prime Minister indicated his intention not to run in next month’s Liberal Democratic Party presidential election.
“We must clearly show the public that the LDP is changing,” the prime minister told reporters. “The first and most obvious step to show that is for me to resign.”
Kishida’s term as LDP president ends in September. The party will elect a new president, who will then be selected by the Diet, where the LDP holds a majority, as prime minister.
Kishida’s approval rating is a low 25%, but the prime minister insists on staying on in his position.

Many Japanese were frustrated with the prime minister’s indecisive response to the LDP’s fundraising scandal and the party’s longstanding ties to the Unification Church, founded by the South Korean Rev. Sun Myung Moon.
Kishida sought to regain public trust by dismantling powerful factions within the LDP, including his own.
But it may have alienated some of the politicians Kishida counted on to support.
“There’s a lot of resentment toward Kishida and a lot of reluctance to support him again,” said Tobias Harris, founder and president of political risk consulting firm Japan Foresight LLC. Kishida may have realized, according to Harris, that “he’s not going to be able to rebuild the coalition that won him the prime ministerial seat in 2021.”

Harris said that while several LDP politicians have announced their intention to challenge Kishida for leadership, no candidate has widespread support across the party. “It’s a close race,” he added. “There’s no clear winner by any means.”
Kishida has been in office for more than 1,000 days, making him the eighth longest-serving prime minister since the end of World War II. His resignation raises the possibility of a return to a “revolving door” of prime ministers, with each successive prime minister lasting just a year.
Another complication is that the enormous asset bubble that has built up over the past two years has collapsed: Japanese stocks last week suffered their biggest one-day drop since 1987.
Tobias Harris predicts that within Japan, “there will be growing calls for serious consideration of spending limits, which will influence what Japan does and what it can do.”
Foreign Minister Kishida’s decision to significantly increase defense spending, including for offensive weapons acquisition, has pleased Washington, but Harris said he has not said clearly how Tokyo’s heavily indebted government will pay for it.
Following pressure from Washington, Foreign Minister Kishida has also moved to repair ties with South Korea, another key U.S. ally, putting aside historical issues to focus on current security threats.

“The U.S.-Japan alliance is a lighthouse for the entire world,” President Biden said during Foreign Minister Kishida’s official visit to Washington in April.
In the future, however, the United States may have to take into account increasing political and economic constraints within Japan.
“We cannot assume that future Japanese governments will continue to have the political strength and capacity they have developed over the past decade,” Harris said.
Chie Kobayashi in Nagano Prefecture contributed to this report.