Cabinet of Outgoing Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba Resigns En Masse, Ishiba Was in Office for 386 Days

The Yomiuri Shimbun

17:31 JST, October 21, 2025

The Cabinet of outgoing Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba resigned en masse at a Tuesday morning meeting.

In addition, Komeito officially left the coalition with the Liberal Democratic Party, and the two parties’ cooperative relationship — which had continued since 1999 — ended.

Ishiba became prime minister on Oct. 1 last year and was in power for 386 days.

Although Ishiba announced in September that he would step down as prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, who was elected LDP president on Oct. 4, needed much time for negotiations over the framework of a new LDP-led coalition.

Therefore, the length of time when different persons served as the prime minister and as the LDP president lasted an unprecedented 18 days.

The LDP under Ishiba’s leadership suffered a landslide loss in last year’s House of Representatives election, which was held soon after Ishiba had taken office as prime minister.

After that, Ishiba struggled to manage Diet affairs and repeatedly made compromises with opposition parties in exchange for the passage of government budgets and other affairs.

In a statement on Tuesday approved by his Cabinet, Ishiba said: “Amid the difficult situation in which my administration was a minority government, I faced each of the parties and parliamentary groups sincerely and carefully. Also, I have made the utmost effort holding the desire that I wanted to maintain a stance of honestly speaking to the public.”

Regarding diplomatic affairs, Ishiba diligently worked to build a good relationship with U.S. President Donald Trump, who was inaugurated in January.

In the statement, Ishida spoke about the tariff negotiations with the U.S. side, saying, “I reached an agreement that can be beneficial for both Japan and the United States, while protecting Japan’s national interests.”

Ishiba also emphasized that he paved the way to a plan to establish a disaster preparedness agency and strengthened measures to revitalize regional areas.