Premiership of Shigeru Ishiba

Shigeru Ishiba's tenure as prime minister of Japan began on 1 October 2024 when he was officially appointed prime minister by Emperor Naruhito in a ceremony at the Tokyo Imperial Palace, succeeding Fumio Kishida.

Ishiba stood in the 2024 Liberal Democratic Party presidential election to succeed Kishida, who announced he would not seek re-election as LDP leader following record-low approval ratings from an ongoing slush fund scandal and previous controversies with the LDP's affiliation with the Unification Church. Ishiba alongside Sanae Takaichi and Shinjirō Koizumi emerged as the frontrunners to succeed him. In the leadership election on 27 September 2024, Ishiba narrowly defeated Takaichi in a second-round runoff. Ishiba's victory was described by commentators as unexpected and an upset, owing to his long history of failed leadership bids and his relative unpopularity with many LDP members of the National Diet.

As prime minister, Ishiba almost immediately announced a snap general election, where the ruling LDP and Komeito coalition lost its majority in the House of Representatives for the first time since 2009, suffering its second-worst result in party history. In the National Diet, Ishiba relied on opposition parties to pass legislation due to his coalition's minority government status. He worked with the opposition Japan Innovation Party to pass the 2025 fiscal year budget. In March 2025, he faced a scandal when it was revealed several LDP members of parliament who were elected for the first time in the 2024 election received gift certificates from the office of Ishiba in early March, causing a decline in his popularity. On foreign policy, Ishiba moved Japan economically closer to India and South Korea amidst protectionist policies being employed by the United States, while continuing to support Ukraine during the Russian invasion that began in 2022. He also saw an improvement of relations with China.

After the ruling coalition lost its majority in the House of Councillors after a poor result in the 2025 election, Ishiba began to face calls within the LDP for him to resign. Ishiba initially announced he planned to remain as prime minister, citing the need to see through tariff negotiations with the United States. After a trade deal between the two nations were announced on 23 July, it was erroneously reported that Ishiba would resign at the end of August. He eventually announced his intention to resign as party president and as prime minister in September 2025, and was succeeded as prime minister by Takaichi the next month.