Ballot heaps pressure on Ishiba’s minority government just as it attempts to negotiate deal to avert Trump tariffs
Japanese prime minister Shigeru Ishiba’s has vowed to stay on despite his coalition losing its upper house majority in elections that saw strong gains by a rightwing populist party.
While the ballot does not directly determine whether Ishiba’s minority government falls, it heaps pressure on the embattled leader, who also lost control of the more powerful lower house in October and who has never been popular within his own party.