<figure id="attachment_422036" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-422036" style="width: 1675px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="0be6f387"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2025/04/94b525e087d3c16a4d66f6713c39fe68.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-422036" class="wp-caption-text">Sanae Takaichi resigns as Prime Minister Abe&#8217;s &#8220;successor&#8221;. She was narrowly defeated in the presidential election by Prime Minister Ishiba in a deciding vote. &#8230;&#8230;</figcaption></figure>
<h2> Even within the party, there are voices saying that Prime Minister Ishiba should step down.</h2>
 President Donald Trump&#8217;s (78) &#8220;tariff attacks&#8221; have thrown the world into turmoil.
 President Trump, fed up with the longstanding trade deficit, imposed reciprocal tariffs on April 9 (Japan Standard Time). He announced that he would impose tariffs totaling 24% on imports from Japan, with no mercy for friendly countries like Japan.
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 The facepalm of the nation turned pale when Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, 68, announced that the tariffs would be imposed on imports from Japan. The tariffs would have a serious impact on Japan&#8217;s economy, as manufacturing industries such as automobiles would be hit hard.
 On the morning of January 17, Ryosei Akazawa, Minister of Economy, Trade, and Industry, who had traveled to the U.S. for tariff negotiations, held direct talks with President Trump.
 After the meeting, President Trump
 I am honored to have met with the Japanese delegation on trade. Great progress!
 The future of the tariffs is still unclear.
 One of those who criticized the prime minister with enthusiasm was Sanae Takaichi, 64, a member of the House of Representatives of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) who lost the LDP presidential election last September. A political insider explains.
 On March 14, LDP Upper House Representative Masashi Nishida openly criticized Ishiba, saying that he should step down. In the meantime, Mr. Takaichi has been criticizing Ishiba. His name has been mentioned again as a candidate for the presidential nomination, in addition to the &#8220;downing of Ishiba. Although he is modest in public, he seems to have a certain sex appeal.
 The problem, however, is his &#8220;temperament.
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 On April 3, he attended the &#8220;Conservative Unity Meeting&#8221; held at the LDP headquarters. In anticipation of President Trump&#8217;s imposition of reciprocal tariffs,
 I don&#8217;t know who is in charge of the campaign, and I don&#8217;t know who is leading the campaign. There are problems, and it is very unfortunate.
 He also criticized the government&#8217;s efforts to &#8220;make the world more tolerant of the tariffs.
 About 20 so-called &#8220;right-leaning Diet members,&#8221; including the aforementioned Diet member Nishida and former National Public Safety Commission Chairman Keiji Furuya, attended the Conservative Unity meeting. At the meeting, Nishida said
 Ishiba cannot win the Upper House election.
 &#8220;We should change the face of the party.
 The meeting was attended by about 20 so-called &#8220;right-leaning lawmakers,&#8221; including the former chairman of the National Diet Public Security Committee.
<div data-friday-nextpage-lead=" Takaichi is also bullish on the Trump tariffs. ......"></div>
<h2>Mr. Takaichi&#8217;s &#8220;backers</h2>
 Perhaps feeling better about this, Mr. Takaichi said
 &#8220;Japan should have shown its seriousness.
 He then went on to discuss President Trump&#8217;s tariff policy, saying, &#8220;I don&#8217;t think it&#8217;s a good idea. He then went on to talk about President Trump&#8217;s tariff policy, saying, &#8220;It&#8217;s good.
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 I&#8217;m fine with it. Japan should be Japan first and keep its manufacturing industry in Japan.
 Hearing this statement, a source in Nagata-cho said, &#8220;Nothing has changed at all.
 &#8220;Nothing has changed at all. &#8230;&#8230;
 The last presidential election was a decisive vote. In the recent presidential election, she was up for a deciding vote, but at the last minute she lost her bid to become the first female prime minister in history. The reason behind this was that during the presidential election
 During the presidential election, she said, &#8220;Even if I become prime minister, I will continue to visit Yasukuni Shrine.
 During the presidential election, she said that she would continue to visit Yasukuni Shrine even if she became prime minister.
 That was a bad idea. I understand that it is Takaichi&#8217;s policy, but considering the relationship with China and other countries, there is a possibility that she will create a big firestorm if she becomes prime minister. Several lawmakers, concerned about this, turned in their support for Ishiba in the final vote. After the presidential election, Takaichi was strongly warned by his fellow Diet members not to talk about Yasukuni before the presidential election ever again.
 Despite this, Takaichi&#8217;s &#8220;I&#8217;m fine&#8221; comment about President Trump suggests that his winning attitude remains unchanged.
 What President Trump is doing is extraordinary, but from Japan&#8217;s standpoint, we can&#8217;t go to war with him. Can Takaichi say, &#8216;I&#8217;m good&#8217; even in front of President Trump? Her weakness is that she puts herself out there without taking Japan&#8217;s national strength into consideration.
 This analysis was made by a political insider.
 We asked political commentator Harumi Arima about the possibility of a &#8220;prime minister&#8221; Takaichi.
 He said, &#8220;Mr. Takaichi wants to take over the Abe-ism and unite the right-wing people. There is a right-wing group called the Nippon Kaigi (Japan Congress) that supports the LDP, but Mr. Ishiba will not work with them. The Nippon Kaigi has about 500,000 members, but in terms of votes, they are said to have about 10 million votes. Mr. Takaichi may want to revitalize the LDP with those 10 million votes, but if the party becomes centered on the JCLP, liberal voters will not follow and the general public will leave the party. Many people in the LDP think that the government will go to the opposition party. The previous presidential election was supported by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, and the last one by Taro Aso, so we got to a good point, but Mr. Takaichi alone will have a tough time,&#8221; he said.
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 But Mr. Takaichi alone will have a tough time,&#8221; he said in his analysis. He also noted that the approval rating for the cabinet continues to be low, but surprisingly, some within the LDP are giving high marks to Prime Minister Ishiba.
 Mr. Ishiba is doing a good job,&#8221; said one LDP member. In other words, as a minority ruling party, the budget cannot be passed without the cooperation of the opposition parties, so he tried to bait the DPJ, and if that didn&#8217;t work, he pulled in The Japan Innovation Party to pass the budget bill. Even other bills, he would not lower the consumption tax while giving the impression that he was willing to do so. Mr. Ishiba has been called &#8216;clumsy,&#8217; but some say that he is surprisingly good as the prime minister of a minority ruling party.
 Will Ms. Takaichi be able to become the &#8220;female prime minister&#8221; she has longed for?

 Takeshi Kinugawa

 Minister Akazawa was appointed by Prime Minister Ishiba to visit the U.S. to negotiate the Trump tariffs. He had direct talks with President Trump, but the outcome of those talks is still unknown. Sanae Takaichi has been openly opposing the Ishiba administration. ......

LDP&#8217;s Sanae Takaichi calls for &#8220;Japan First&#8221; behind the scenes of the &#8220;Trump Tariffs&#8221; negotiations, and the odds of winning the &#8220;downfall of Ishiba.

LDP’s Sanae Takaichi calls for “Japan First” behind the scenes of the “Trump Tariffs” negotiations, and the odds of winning the “downfall of Ishiba.

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