Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who assumed office on Tuesday, is facing a reality check regarding his foreign and security policy beliefs as well as his ideas about dissolving the House of Representatives. It seems that Ishiba has realized that he will have to postpone or give up many of his plans in terms of running the government and maintaining the Japan-U.S. alliance.
Ishiba is known for being more concerned with logic than practicality, but it appears that he had no choice but to abandon this stance. During a press conference at the Prime Minister’s Office, Ishiba expressed his desire to revise the Japan-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), which he has advocated for many years. However, he also acknowledged that it would be difficult to do so quickly.
The prime minister’s beliefs on foreign and security policies have caused controversy both domestically and internationally. Ishiba has called for revising the Japan-U.S. SOFA and creating a training base for the Self-Defense Forces in the United States. However, some U.S. government officials question whether such bases are necessary if they don’t directly contribute to protecting the United States.
Ishiba also proposed establishing an “Asian version of NATO,” but this would require using collective self-defense rights incompatible with Article 9 of Japan’s Constitution.
Regarding the dissolution of the House of Representatives on October 9th, Ishiba had to retract statements made during his party’s presidential race due to opposition demands. He rejected calls for Budget Committee meetings before dissolving the lower house in order to dissolve it quickly.
Ishiba plans to delegate designing a process for creating a disaster prevention ministry to Ryosei Akazawa, his close aide responsible for economic revitalization efforts.
However, there are differing opinions within the government about how best to address disaster prevention issues – some believe increasing staff and budget is sufficient while others support creating a dedicated agency or ministry.
Despite criticism about his oppositional stance within his party, which has gained him popularity in rural areas, Prime Minister Ishiba remains steadfast in sticking with his views rather than adopting pragmatic policies.
