Upper House Election: Prime Minister Ishiba Receives Understanding, Criticism from Cabinet; Minister Cautions Impact on U.S. Tariff Talks

The Yomiuri Shimbun

16:54 JST, July 22, 2025

A Cabinet member on Tuesday said Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba should face up to his mismanagement of the administration,while others showed some understanding of his intention to stay in office, two days after the ruling coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito lost its majority in the House of Councillors election.

“Voters delivered a harsh judgment against us. We must take the judgment humbly and seriously,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters at the Prime Minister’s Office after the first Cabinet meeting since the poll. He added that he will continue to support Ishiba as prime minister.

“We want to continue to work together to overcome the difficult situation,” said Internal Affairs and Communications Minister Seiichiro Murakami at a press conference Tuesday. Speaking on the ongoing tariff negotiations with the United States, Murakami, a close ally of Ishiba, questioned the prudence of potentially abandoning the negotiations. “Isn’t it right to reach a certain point and then reconsider the [prime minister’s] responsibilities?” he said.

Ishiba is believed to think that he gained a certain amount of support for his decision to continue in office, which he announced Monday, as the LDP has maintained its position as the largest party in the upper house.

However, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Shinjiro Koizumi said: “We should take seriously the fact that the LDP failed to achieve its goal of maintaining [the ruling coalition’s] majority in the upper house, rather than being proud of [being the party] holding the largest number of seats there. We must face up to what we lacked and move forward.”

Opposition to prepare for change

Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan leader Yoshihiko Noda and Democratic Party for the People leader Yuichiro Tamaki separately visited the headquarters of the Japanese Trade Union Confederation (Rengo) in Tokyo on Tuesday morning and met with Tomoko Yoshino, president of the confederation, which had supported the parties in the upper house election. The two leaders confirmed their ongoing cooperation with Rengo.

Noda said after the meeting that there are probably many within the LDP who cannot understand Ishiba staying in office. “We will closely watch the situation,” he told reporters.

“We want to accelerate preparations for a House of Representatives election, which could take place at any time,” Tamaki said.