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Tokyo (The Uttam Hindu): Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has decided to resign from his post amid a major upheaval in Japanese politics. Ishiba, who took office in November 2024, could not save his chair for even 10 months. He had to take this decision due to rising inflation, public anger and the economic pressure of a trade agreement with US President Donald Trump. As soon as the news of his resignation came, Japan's currency Yen registered a decline.

68-year-old Ishiba's short tenure was full of challenges. According to a Reuters report, the public was troubled by rising inflation, which resulted in his ruling coalition losing its majority in the elections. He was under pressure to resign after a crushing defeat in the Upper House elections in July, but he did not step down then.

Instead, he focused on a trade deal to deal with tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump that hit Japan's crucial automobile industry and hurt economic growth, leading to infighting within his party (the Liberal Democratic Party – LDP).

Ishiba became emotional and said, we have crossed a big hurdle with the signing of the Japan-US trade agreement. Now I want to hand over this responsibility to the next generation. He has asked his party to elect a new leader and till then he will remain the caretaker Prime Minister.

With Ishiba's resignation announcement, the race for Japan's next prime minister has intensified. Two major faces are leading the contest. One of them is Sanae Takaichi, who is known for her support of loose economic policies and criticism of the Bank of Japan's interest rate hikes. She lost to Ishiba by a very narrow margin in the last leadership election. The other major candidate is Shinjiro Koizumi, who comes from a large political family and has served as agriculture minister in the Ishiba government.

However, since the LDP does not have a majority in Parliament, it is not certain that the next party president will become the prime minister. Experts believe that whoever is elected as the new leader may announce a sudden election in the country to gain public confidence, which may prolong the period of political uncertainty in Japan.