<figure id="attachment_418382" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-418382" style="width: 3382px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="c0523301"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2025/03/e1304457b21ddf16f54fa1ea8f25ec32.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-418382" class="wp-caption-text">Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba&#8217;s approval rating has dropped to 23% in a Mainichi Shimbun survey. &#8230;&#8230;</figcaption></figure>
<h2> Successive prime ministers have done it normally as a customary practice.</h2>
 It&#8217;s not against the law. &#8230;&#8230;
 No matter how many excuses he makes, public sentiment does not seem to follow.
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 The issue of Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba handing out 100,000 yen each in gift certificates to 15 new LDP lawmakers caused the approval rating of the administration by newspapers conducted afterward to plummet across the board.
 A nationwide poll conducted by the Yomiuri Shimbun between March 14 and 16 showed 31%, the lowest since the cabinet was formed last October, and a point drop from the previous survey.
 The Mainichi Shimbun&#8217;s survey showed a 7-point drop from the previous survey to 23%, and the Cabinet has entered the so-called &#8220;resignation crisis level.
 In a speech at an LDP meeting held in Tottori City on March 16, Shoji Maidate, a member of the House of Councillors, said that the distribution of gift certificates is &#8220;not a matter of the past.
 &#8220;It is something that successive prime ministers have done as a matter of customary practice,&#8221; he said.
 Maitate is a member of the Tottori Prefectural Federation of Trade Unions. Mr. Maitate is a member of the Tottori Prefectural Federation of Trade Unions, of which the prime minister is the chairman. The next day, however, he reversed himself,
 &#8220;The statement was based on misconceptions and speculation, and I retract it,&#8221; he reportedly said.
 The same day, Prime Minister Ishiba was reported to have made a statement to the House of Councillors. On the same day, Prime Minister Ishiba told the Budget Committee of the House of Councillors
 I don&#8217;t know whether successive prime ministers have done so or not. I am not in a position to answer that question.
 However, as of January 14, the Prime Minister had not made a comment on the matter.
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 However, as of March 14, Prime Minister Ishiba said
 I once received a gift when I was young, but it disappeared into various things from right to left,&#8221; he said.
 I also remember that I replaced the money with airline tickets at a travel agency in a hotel.
 I also remember that I used to exchange them for airline tickets at a hotel travel agency,&#8221; he told the Diet. He also mentioned that he had distributed gift certificates in the past, saying, &#8220;I can&#8217;t count them on two hands.
 &#8220;I can count them on my two hands and it&#8217;s not enough.
 He also explained that he had distributed gift certificates in the past, &#8220;more or less on two hands.
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Prime Minister Ishiba was called &#8220;clean with money&#8221; and &#8220;the opposition party within the party,&#8221; and was expected to break away from the image of &#8220;the LDP member&#8221; he had been. However, polls show that the public is disappointed, saying, &#8220;So you too, after all. &#8230;&#8230;
 The immediate withdrawal of the statement seems to indicate that he is trying to pretend that his comment about &#8220;customary practice&#8221; was not a problem within his own party.
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 On the other hand, LDP member Masashi Nishida, who appeared live on &#8220;Kansai Joho Net ten.&#8221; (Yomiuri TV) on January 14, objected from the outset.
 Mr. Ishiba is in charge of the Diet to pass the budget in the minority ruling party. I don&#8217;t understand why he would gather first-year Diet members at a time like this, and moreover, I don&#8217;t understand why he would give them souvenirs.
 The anchor in the studio.
 The studio anchor asked, &#8220;Have you ever experienced the culture of souvenirs, Ms. Nishida?&#8221;
 The studio newscaster asked, &#8220;Did you ever experience the culture of souvenirs?
 He answered, &#8220;I had a chance to have a reception at the Prime Minister&#8217;s Office during Mr. Abe&#8217;s time, but I have no memory of such a reception.
 I don&#8217;t remember that. Nishida said that he was a certified tax accountant and had been reporting his political funds properly, but that he had no knowledge of the part about the exchange with his faction, because his secretary had been following the practices of other Diet members without his knowledge.
<h2> Prime Minister Kishida also gave 100,000 yen each in gift certificates at the roundtable.</h2>
 Senator Nishida is one of the new members of the upper house election to be held this summer, but at the party&#8217;s general meeting of upper house members held in the Diet on April 12, he called for Prime Minister Ishiba&#8217;s resignation.
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 Is this a customary practice for successive prime ministers, or is it Ishiba&#8217;s personal way of &#8220;consoling&#8221; himself?
 Opinions within the party are split down the middle, but political journalist Harumi Arima asked, &#8220;What is a &#8216;souvenir&#8217;?
 He pointed out that &#8220;souvenirs&#8221; are a common practice.
 He pointed out that &#8220;souvenirs&#8221; are quite common.
 It was recently reported that Prime Minister Kishida gave out 100,000 yen worth of gift certificates as souvenirs to the parliamentary secretaries who gathered for a round-table meeting. For LDP lawmakers, gathering people means that they cannot just let them go home for free, and this is more than just a customary practice. It is not common for us to just get together, have dinner, and be done with it. I was surprised that the stingy Mr. Ishiba gave 100,000 yen each, and I am amazed that 15 people came together.
 As for the future of the Ishiba administration, which has seen its approval rating plummet, he said, &#8220;I don&#8217;t think he intends to quit,
 He has no intention of quitting, and I think he will continue to run for the upper house. In the past, when Yoshiro Mori was prime minister, he resigned in April because his approval rating was too low to contest the Upper House election. This time, too, the Upper House election is coming up in the summer, and even if his approval rating drops due to the gift certificate issue, he is not likely to quit. This is because there is no one to replace Mr. Ishiba as the &#8220;face&#8221; of the upper house.
 Moreover, since the opposition parties are not likely to file a no-confidence motion against Mr. Ishiba because he is more electable, there is no way to force his resignation. If the ruling party loses 18 seats, it will lose its majority in the House of Councillors, and if that happens, the opposition will argue that he is responsible and he will have no choice but to resign. However, if the ruling party does not lose its majority in the House of Councillors, it will probably continue to do so even after the Upper House election,&#8221; said Arima.
 (Mr. Arima).
 Despite the headwinds, the &#8220;prime minister&#8217;s chair&#8221; still seems to be secure. Will Prime Minister Ishiba be able to come up with a plan to revive his fortunes before the Upper House election in the summer?

 Takeshi Kinugawa

 Prime Minister Ishiba's approval rating has plummeted due to the issue of distributing 100,000 yen each in gift certificates to 15 new LDP members. However, some in the LDP say that it was a customary practice, while others say that it never happened. ......

Prime Minister Ishiba’s “distribution of gift certificates” plummets his approval rating.

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