Prime Minister’s New Year Press Conference: Ishiba Failed to Convey What He Is Aiming for

Editorial

15:00 JST, January 7, 2025

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba apparently intends to prolong his tenure by maintaining a humble attitude, but it was unclear what this administration is aiming for and what kind of policies it is trying to implement.

“I will work to gain the understanding and support of the public by holding thorough discussions with opposition parties,” the prime minister said at his New Year’s press conference.

He also stated that his top priorities would be to correct the overconcentration of population and industry in Tokyo and to revitalize regional areas. Ishiba referred to this idea as “the remodeling of the Japanese archipelago in the Reiwa era.”

In contrast to the “remodeling of the Japanese archipelago” advocated by late Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka that focused on the development of such infrastructure as roads and railways, Ishiba said he plans to create a mechanism that will encourage people to move to regional areas.

If the decline in population in regional areas cannot be stopped, it may become impossible for those locations to maintain such functions as education and nursing care. It is only natural for the prime minister to be aware of this issue.

The important thing is how to achieve results. However, the measures that Ishiba mentioned as specific steps were limited to those that had been tackled several times by past cabinets, such as promoting the relocation of head office functions and government agencies in urban areas to regional areas.

The Cabinet of former Prime Minister Fumio Kishida relocated major departments of the Cultural Affairs Agency to Kyoto in 2023, but only about 400 of the agency’s employees work in Kyoto. There are few cases of companies taking advantage of a tax reduction program for businesses that relocate the functions of their head offices to regional areas.

Just following past policies is not going to improve the situation. When the reasons why a past policy was not successful are examined and countermeasures are put forward, that can be called a policy proposal.

The prime minister also seems to be at a loss when it comes to foreign affairs.

Regarding a possible meeting with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, Ishiba expressed a positive attitude toward meeting at an early date but later changed his stance to a more cautious one. In the end, he put off holding a meeting until after February.

The Foreign Ministry was originally cautious about an early meeting, citing reasons such as the fact that it would be impossible to compile a joint document between the two governments before Trump takes office. The prime minister also did not give any strong instructions to the ministry to arrange an early meeting.

However, Trump met with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and other foreign leaders in 2024, and with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni at the beginning of this year.

The judgments made by the prime minister and the ministry are nothing but questionable. If a meeting had taken place, Ishiba and Trump could have discussed the issue of Nippon Steel Corp.’s plan to acquire U.S. Steel Corp. — a move banned by the United States.

As to the possibility of forming a grand coalition between the ruling parties and key opposition parties, Ishiba said, “I am not thinking about it at this time.” Regarding the dissolution of the House of Representatives, he said, “When the will of the House of Representatives and the Cabinet differ, it is the normal course of a constitutional government to seek the judgment of the people, who have sovereign power.”

If Ishiba talks about the “normal course of a constitutional government,” then isn’t it the “normal course” for the prime minister to take responsibility for losing the lower house election last year?

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, Jan. 7, 2025)