近代史上変なでも速い日本の総理大臣の変化

＜日本語＞

コロナ禍から5年について私が書いたの随筆をまだ思い出してる？私が言ったは新型コロナウイルスの登場から5年間に、その時の間に注目に値する出来事は日本は二人の新しい総理大臣があった。それらの二人は菅義偉と岸田文雄だった、でも訂正を要るんです。実は、日本は二人の新しい総理大臣がなかった、三人の新しい総理大臣があった、最近と現在の総理大臣石破茂を含めて。すべての三人が自由民主党（あるいは自民党、1955年からこの国をほとんど支配するのよく知られた保守派の政党）を代表する、そしてなんと面白い政治生命があったんですね、あの三人の一人は安倍晋三の第一政権から長年の同僚です！どのように日本に総理大臣は選挙されたって？私が知っているだけは、衆議院議員総選挙のため4年ごとに日本人が投票する時に、実は総理大臣のために投票するはない。その代わりに衆議院の会員のために投票する、それらの人々や参議院の会員が国会を作る、後で国会の会員が総理大臣を選挙する。他の世界の指導者たちのように、総理大臣は日本に国民の必要で責任感があるの一番官職があるの人かもしれないけど、仕事が始まる前にもっと上司なの人が任命するなければならない、その人は日本の象徴天皇です。それで、わかるはこれは関係がないけど日本はイギリスのように本当に王国か（王様または女王様によって支配されたと）？！

とにかく、日本がよく総理大臣を変わる、だけど人気だからその職に時間はもっと長いの幾人か総理大臣たちがいる。日本の二人在職期間が歴史最長の総理大臣は佐藤栄作（1964年から1972年まで、7年間の合計）と安倍晋三（2006年から2007年まで、そしてもう一度の2012年から2020年まで、二つの政権の間に8年間の合計）、間に東久邇宮稔彦王は在職期間が歴史最短の総理大臣でした、1945年08月17日から10月09日まで54日だけの合計、でも中間に第二次世界大戦の終わりに日本の降伏を監督した。明治時代から日本にたくさんの総理大臣は変われたのことで私が信じたくなかった（まだ、知っているはなんだ？！歴史家や政治家はないよ、そして学校にすべてのこれらを教えることは本当に必要か？！）、だが、私が思うは健康問題だから総理大臣として安倍晋三の辞任からの期間は面白いですね。徳仁天皇と令和時代の始まりから一年に、2020年に新型コロナウイルスが現われた、後で病気になっただから安倍晋三が辞任した、それで菅義偉が総理大臣になった。しかし、日本に新型コロナウイルスで扱っていることだから（コロナ禍の間に2021年に東京オリンピックやパラリンピックの問題な行いの見落としの特に）菅総理大臣がもう人気はないになった、それで岸田文雄が総理大臣になった、でも最近の自民党に政治資金の大問題の影響だから、岸田総理大臣が言ったはもう一つの期間がないだろうって、それで石破茂が総理大臣になった、それらの出来事のため4年の期間に（第二期間があるでなければアメリカの大統領の期間のように）！忘れたくないけど、その4年期間の間に、2022年07月08日にあいにく安倍晋三は暗殺された、世界平和統一家庭連合の調査に至った、そしてこの随筆に私が絶対この事件について話すでしょう．．．

とりあえず、日本の最近の四人の総理大臣について話し合いましょう（安倍晋三、菅義偉、岸田文雄、そして石破茂）、経歴を含めて、政治に職業と、日本の人々で影響も、そして質問しているはここ何年かは特に支配している自民党が日本のため貢献よりもっと面倒になっているかどうか。

でも、まずは、私が書いたのコロナ禍から5年についてやロシアのウクライナ侵攻について随筆のように私が政治的になったことが嫌いならば、それとも政治が嫌いまたは政治について話していることは不快って感じるだから対立を防ぎたいならば、この随筆を読めないでください。その代わりに、スタジオジブリかドラえもんか私が眠る間に夢見るの大好きな日本女優たちについて私が書いたの他の随筆を絶対読んでください！これをそれ以上読むならばもっと面白くないだろうね！このように話題で私は絶対興味がないそれでも、指導者の意見に日本の政治についてよくわかるできるために書いているはもっと良いありそうなのね。

ところで、私が思ったはスマホに見てるかテレビドラマに主演かあるアジアンボスからリポーターによってインタビューをされたでなければ日本の人々は公の場で表情が豊かになっていることが好きじゃない、そしてそれに政治的話し合いを含めて：ある幾人かの意見に国に少ない改善がいるから政治について話していることはつまらないけど、他の人々で大事に気にするの話題ため信念は強い、例えば同性結婚の支持者たちまたはアメリカにドナルド・トランプが2020年大統領選挙を勝ったの嘘を信じるだから街に「ストップ・ザ・スティール」って叫びがあるの抗議！それらの例の他に、日本の人々の本当の政治的な感情を見せるの時は投票用紙記入所にありそうなのね！2024年10月下旬の第50回衆議院議員総選挙にそれはそうだ、結果として自民党は衆議院に大多数が無くなった、代わりに立憲民主党が先頭を行った、そして私たちがわかったは日本の人々がその政治資金の大問題の影響の後で特に考えたは「自民党やもう嫌だ」って、日本のインフレーションの問題を解決するのために他の政党の方を好む。ニュースを観るか読むの他にたぶん投票していることはどのように日本の人々で政治は興味があるできるね。とにかく、日本の政治は興味がないを信じたくないならばこの随筆を読んでいる今やめてください。

現在の日本の大人気の総理大臣安倍晋三と始まりましょう！他の総理大臣たちより期間は非連続的な9年の合計。元外務大臣の息子として東京に生まれた、政治学と成蹊大学の卒業生になった後で、神戸製鋼所の元従業員になっていたも、1993年に衆議院の会員になったによって日本の政治に職業を始まった。数年後に、2006年に、多選だから小泉純一郎が総理大臣として辞任した、安倍晋三と取り替えた（最初の第二次世界大戦の終わりに生まれたの日本に総理大臣に至った）、しかし年金記録のトラブルだから短い第一期間があった。最後に、安倍晋三が回復された、2012年にもう一度総理大臣になった、でもこの期間になんと難しい遺産が残る（人の意見は違う）。安倍晋三は日本の偉大な総理大臣だったを信じるかどうかあなたが決心するできる、最もや礼儀正しい限り意見をわかるできるよ。ある人々で、なぜ安倍晋三が好きの理由は、バブル景気より立ち直るから現在の日本の経済はもっと影響があったことに貢献した、北朝鮮で厳しいだった、「アベノミクス」という面白い用語を作った、そして第二次世界大戦の結果について励ましたは「元気出してください、日本の皆様」と「その戦争に負けましたから恥じないでください」ってのように言った言葉。間に、他の人々で、なぜ安倍晋三が嫌いの理由は、まずは保守派だから（LGBTQ+コミュニティで保守派たちの意見についてすでに知ってたか？）。他の理由は、日本国憲法第９条から平和条項を改訂の試みは成功したはなかった、2013年に靖国神社に訪問は反対運動に至った、問題があるの日本に新型コロナウイルスの状況を扱っていること（例えばその変なの大成功したはないのアベノマスク）、お花見のために政府の会員たちによって不正支出のトラブル、そして普通の政治家のそれぞれの他のトラブルです！安倍晋三反対抗議に人々が信じたは安倍晋三はヒトラーのように、それはマジです！アメリカに第一政権の間にトランプ大統領の友達になった、そして2016年リオオリンピックの閉会式にスーパーマリオになった（安倍晋三の努力だから2020年東京オリンピックが行った）！要するに、トラブルと批判にもかかわらず安倍晋三は本当にやさしい人だったって私が言ったならば、あなたが信じるだろうか？

あいにく、2022年07月08日に、安倍晋三が死んだ、実は、奈良市にキャンペーン大会に演説をしていたの間に暗殺された。暗殺者は自分を作ったの拳銃を使ったの41歳の人だった、世界平和統一家庭連合と連結だから安倍晋三と恨みがあった。韓国から宗教団体世界平和統一家庭連合について、その暗殺者が思ったは母の寄付の後で金融低迷に至ったから世界平和統一家庭連合のせいだった。現在に、その宗教団体はまだ調査中、そして最近に法廷に解散されたを危険に晒されても。安倍晋三の暗殺と日本のすべては大ショックがあったんだけど抗議がいった、だから人々が信じたは安倍晋三のための国葬は要らなかった、理由は高いだったと自民党と世界平和統一家庭連合の怪しい連結、その上に人々がわかったは安倍晋三は天皇じゃないと、日本はロシアと北朝鮮のように権威主義の身分はない。結局、ある堕落した宗教団体と連結だから重要じゃない、それにもかかわらず安倍晋三は殺された。政治的な意見にかかわらず政治的な暴力は絶対許さない。あんまり党派的だからわからないからかわいそうだね、タカ派の政策は日本損害を与えられたと思っただから安倍晋三が死んじゃったから嬉しい人々の特に。あなたは今これを読めれば、安倍晋三が絶対嫌いならばそれは大丈夫、批判したいならばそれも大丈夫、それは言論の自由だ、でも暗殺のようにそんなことを値するべきじゃないだぞ！

安倍晋三の右腕として、第二政権のために官房長官だったや、菅義偉が2020年秋に安倍晋三が病気になっただから辞任した後で直ちに総理大臣になった、でもどうやって起こったの？まあ、まずは、青春時代に決心したは家業として父のように苺を育ている代わりに高等学校に卒業した後で1973年に法政大学に法学士を得た。市会議員になっている後で小泉純一郎の最後の政権と安倍晋三の第一政権に総務省を代表した。もちろん仮定するできるは菅義偉は安倍晋三のどんな時でもとても大切な友達だね。2012年に安倍晋三がもう一度総理大臣になった時にその友情が残った、そして菅義偉がその政権に官房長官になった、しかし安倍晋三に比べ菅義偉について誰もホントに気にするなかった。だけど、2019年に明仁の後で徳仁が天皇になった時に菅義偉が新しい令和時代を発表した、まだそれは的外れだ！菅義偉がついに総理大臣になった時に世界の他の部分のように日本に新型コロナウイルスの影響を避けるできなかったね、そして日本の人々が思ったは菅総理大臣の致命的だったの病気を扱っていることはもっと更に悪いだった、毎日感染が増えられたや、一年延期の後でコロナ禍の間に2020年東京オリンピックはあいにく助けたはなかった、結果は低い支持率と一年だけ後に辞任に至った。この時点で、菅義偉について私が説明するできることは限られただな。他の日本に総理大臣たちに比べ菅義偉の在職は短いだったんでも、すべてのそれらの述べたの問題にもかかわらず2020年東京オリンピックやパラリンピックは少なくとも面白かった、だが菅義偉が総理大臣になったの間に私がすでにここに書いたのように本当に忘れないでの記憶がいったのカイ？それは信じられないね．．．

菅義偉の総理大臣として在職は一年の後で失敗ならば、三年間に岸田文雄が前へ進めた。大部分の子供頃に日本に育てられた、そうです、「大部分」って言ったよ、だから三年間に父がアメリカに海外の仕事があったから岸田文雄はニューヨークに小学生になった、世界の色々な政治家と伝えているために総理大臣としてなんと役に立つの経験だな！後で、岸田文雄は早稲田大学大学院法務研究科の卒業生になった後で日本長期信用銀行（今はSBI新生銀行）の従業員になった、経済学の知識を使用していると金銭的に人々を助けたい。1987年から衆議院の会員の長官になった後たくさんの政治的な職の後でたくさんの政権も投票によって総理大臣になった、大部分に菅義偉の日本にコロナ禍を扱っているめちゃくちゃなことを受け継げていた。運良く日本が取り戻された、そして近頃国に観光客がいっぱい！低い支持率もあったんでも菅義偉とは違ってたぶん本当に忘れないでの記憶があった。ロシアのウクライナ侵攻の間にロシアを批判した。どうやって中国と北朝鮮に挑戦するわかるために日本と韓国の関係を強化したも（前のジョー・バイデン大統領とアメリカの助けや）。金銭的に人々を助けたいの前の約束について、試みたんだけど障害は政治資金の大問題だった。2023年秋に、安倍晋三の第二政権の党派から幾分か収入と消費が不法に過小に報告された、それで日本の人々は納税者のお金がどこへ行ったを心配したから怒っていた。この自民党から大スキャンダルの結果は岸田総理大臣が感じたは責任があるべきと発表したは第二期間がありませんでしょう。最後に、石破茂が総理大臣になった、解散総選挙に至った。岸田文雄が総理大臣になったの間に安倍晋三の暗殺ともっとストレスがいた、自民党のもう一つの損失のために。岸田文雄の総理大臣期間は菅義偉よりもっと長いでも（まだ、ロシアのウクライナ侵攻の特に反応と勇気になった）、人々が思うは菅義偉について話していることは面白くないだろうってならば岸田文雄と同じ、言うまでもなく日本にあんまりたくさんの出来事が起こったからそれらの二人で誰が注目したいのカイ？！

三井銀行の元従業員と日本の現在の総理大臣石破茂といえば、それぞれの衆議院議員総選挙に衆議院に選ばれた、でもなぜ総理大臣として岸田文雄を変わったの理由とちょっと関係ない。安倍晋三の政策から距離を置きたいんです、それで自民党の会員たちが石破茂は総理大臣として成功するできるだろうかどうか疑問視する。実は、石破総理大臣は私のように、私たちどちらもアニメが大好き、信じるは女性たちが何でもできる、日本に同性結婚の合法化していることのために支持する。私たちどちらも思うは多様性だから社会がもっと良いになる、そしてJ-POP曲も大好き！あいにく、もう類似点がいない。現在に、日本の人々の幾人か思うは石破総理大臣がちょっと好きじゃない（低い支持率は証拠）、続けているインフレーション問題（なんと高い米と他の食料品値段の特に）を扱っていることの努力は十分はないから。そして、もっと助けていないは夕食の間に自民党の議員たちで10万円商品券の散布トラブル（それらの商品券は返された、でも、もう一度納税者のお金がどこへ行ったって心配したから日本の人々はまだ怒っていた）、その上にアメリカにトランプ大統領から商品の輸出入のもっと高い値段に至るできるの関税を巧みに脱出するなければならないけど、私がこの随筆を書いている間に関税は現在に休止された。人々が願うは、もっと若い人々は政治に興味があるのために石破総理大臣がそれらの人々と関連づけるできれば、タイ王国のように日本に同性結婚の合法化ためもっと努力がいれば、トランプはもう一度大統領限り日本とアメリカの関係を改善している間に、日本の経済が新型コロナウイルスの前ために取り戻すできることも、商品を作ると買うの人々の満足に至っていると、石破総理大臣はもう低い支持率がないだろうな。まだ、この世界は完璧じゃない、政治的な指導者の成功は保証はない、それぞれの可能性のすべては効かない、政治はいつもめちゃめちゃ話題だね、でもそれにもかかわらず、これは私たちが住んでいる世界だ、日本の人々が石破総理大臣を信用することはしょうがない、このように経済的苦難を乗り切るのために応援するなければならない。ところで、商品券について心配しないで、石破総理大臣がすでに弁明した、でもそのトラブルの影響がはやく消えるその意味はないだろうね！

．．．おそらく、日本の人々が石破総理大臣を応援するなければならないって私が言った言葉はすでに無理じゃないかな．．．？

2012年に安倍総理大臣の第二政権の始まりから、その年に衆議院議員総選挙から、自民党の結果はいつも成功した、毎回選挙がいる時に他の政党より一番多い衆議院の投票を勝ち得ていると少数の投票を無くしている、可能な理由はそんなの時に安倍総理大臣は大部分日本の人々から信頼を得た、も、他の人々が安倍総理大臣について問題があったんでもまだ大人気だった。いつでもそんなの選挙に自民党が衆議院の投票を勝ち得るは日本の政治に1955年に形成から支配をもっと証拠です、私が信じるは理由は大部分の人々が他の政党に頼るを見つけるできない、その政党の政策に興味がないまたは政治的になることが嫌い。人々が自民党を投票する時に保守派になるの意味かな？そんなことはない、もちろん日本も保守派の国はない、なんとバカな仮定だ！みんなが政党と候補者を投票する時になぜを違うな目的がある、個人的に政治的な意見にかかわらず（日本の人々のすべては外交的な人はないを覚えてくれ）。まだ、これらの選挙の結果が大部分の人々のこの国の状態についてどう感じるを見せる、2012年から2017年まで三つの衆議院議員総選挙に日本が世界を見せたは経済の自身のために自民党を助けていると安倍晋三に頼るできるんだったな．．．

．．．2021年と2024年の衆議院議員総選挙まで。それらの選挙に自民党がもっと衆議院の投票を無くした、間に立憲民主が追いつけていた。結果の意味は、日本の人々は安倍晋三の後の二つの総理大臣を含めて自民党のコロナ禍の返事で嬉しくなかった、花見と資金と商品券についてのようにあんまりたくさんの金融不祥事もう我慢できなかったも。それらの要素だから人々が自民党に信じているやめた、悟ったは自民党は支配ために長居して嫌われた、経済で最高のために日本を安定するの努力はもう十分はなかった、すでに違うな支配する政党が欲しいって、けど残りの質問は：自民党が失敗する時に何の他のつまらない政党が成功するできるだろうなのか？！何の他の政党がこの国の必要と感心を満たすできるか？！確実に人々が信じるは自由主義の立憲民主ができるだろうなでも（ところで立憲民主が2017年に民主党の解散の後で作られた）、自民党より少数の金融不祥事があるできないは可能性かな！ねえ！ねえ～！！！

一つ残っているの質問は：安倍総理大臣の第二政権から現在の石破総理大臣の政権まで日本の政治に出来事について、自民党が実は日本のために貢献よりもっと面倒になっているのか？正直に、私が言うはそんなことはない、少なくとも日本の政治はある世界で3番目に人口が多いと一番偉大な経済があるの国の政治に比べ熱狂はないはね（その国をすでに知っているのカイ？）！世界に指導者はトラブルとスキャンダルがあっていることはいつものように普通なことだ、結果として人々の疑問も、その指導者の評判は良くも悪くも厳しく影響されている、この随筆に話したの四人日本の総理大臣たちは例外はない。いっぱい問題と低い支持率にかかわらず、他の人々と関係がありたいと何の国になりたいをわかりたいの目的や、まだ親切な四人ありそう。安倍晋三と菅義偉と岸田文雄と石破茂についてニュースを読んでいるとこの随筆のために調査しているの後で、私が信じるはそれらの四人はホントに悪い人たちじゃない、杉田水脈と荒井勝喜とは違って政治的な意見はひどいじゃないね！手に負えない状況があったばかり、責任があるの政治家のようにそれらの失敗から学ぶよかった。もっと更に悪いは、調査確実性改善のために街に私が四人日本の総理大臣たちについて意見と他の政治的な意見を議論で誰でも一人をインタビューしたはなかった！まあいいか、何といっても記者じゃないよ．．．

一つの確かなことは、この地球にすべての他の国のように日本について政治だけはない。それはなぜこの世には嫌なだから政治について話していることが好きじゃないの人々がいるの理由、または安倍晋三と菅義偉と岸田文雄と石破茂について話していることは興味がないと思う、むしろスポーツとアニメのように他のことについて話していることの方がいい、そんなの人になりたいよ！とにかくそれで自民党が日本のために貢献よりもっと面倒になっているを私が信じるはない、少なくとも今は。政党を無視して日本が未来へ進めている大丈夫、だから日本は人権侵害がいっぱいのある国はない。結局、日本に怒っている人々がまだ支配している限り自民党の特に政治家を責めていると何の突然悪いの出来事が起これば、告発で証拠がないと言い争いは意味がない。現実的に、政治的になっていることが嫌いならばそれはいい（そんな方法に言論の自由を尊重しているからありがとう）、でもおそらくいつか後悔するできるだろうな。では、政治の存在を無視しないで、そして真実について知らされているになれ、政府のリーダーシップがあなたを本当に優先するかどうか知っているできる。終わりに、このたわごとの代わりになんで何か他のものを読むはなかったの？！

＜英語＞

Remember in that essay I wrote a while back regarding the five years since COVID-19 became a pandemic that during those five years since then, one of the interesting things to note that happened in that time was the fact that Japan had two new Prime Ministers? I counted off Suga Yoshihide and Kishida Fumio, but I wanted to make a correction because Japan actually did not have two new Prime Ministers; It had three, including the most recent and current Prime Minister, Ishiba Shigeru. All three men represent the Liberal Democratic Party (or the LDP for short, a well-known conservative party that has almost mostly taken stronghold in the country since 1955), and all of them have had quite a history when it comes to their political careers, with one of those men being a longtime colleague of the now late Abe Shinzo ever since his earliest administration from 2006 to 2007! As far as can be concerned about how Prime Ministers become elected in Japan, as it turns out, when the people of Japan go out to vote in General Elections every four years, they don’t actually pick who their Prime Minister is; They pick members of the House of Representatives who, along with the House of Councilors comprising of the National Diet, eventually go on to pick the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister may be defined as the person in Japan with the highest position of power responsible for the needs of the people just like any other world leader, but in order to initiate their duties at all, they first have to be appointed by the one other person in a high position of power who unsurprisingly is a much more superior representative symbol of the country: The Emperor. This leaves off the question of whether or not Japan really is a monarchy like the United Kingdom, which is ruled by either a King or a Queen, and now I have immediately gotten off the subject!

The point is this: Japan usually tends to switch out Prime Ministers quite often, though only a few manage to stay longer due to their popularity with the Japanese people. Two of Japan’s longest serving Prime Ministers are Satō Eisaku (who served from 1964 to 1972, a total of seven years) and Abe Shinzo (who served from 2006 to 2007, then again from 2012 to 2020, a total of eight years over the course of two administrations), while Prince Higashikuni Naruhiko only served 54 days from August 17 to October 9, 1945, making him the shortest serving Prime Minister in the country’s history, although he did oversee Japan’s surrender at the end of World War II somewhere in the middle of his term. Though I find it bizarre how much Prime Ministers in Japan are switched out over the decades ever since the Meiji era (But what do I know?! I’m not a political or historical expert, and I can’t say whether this is something that is supposed to be taught at schools!), I did find the period of time since Abe Shinzo resigned due to health concerns to be quite noticeable. One year after the start of the new Reiwa era with Emperor Naruhito from 2019, COVID-19 hit in 2020, then Abe Shinzo suddenly announced he was resigning due to falling ill that same year, and Suga became elected. Then, Suga started to become unpopular due to his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan (especially with his oversight of the controversial decision to hold the Tokyo 2020 Olympics one year late due to the pandemic), and Kishida was elected, but after the negative impact of a slush funds scandal that rocked the LDP, Kishida made the decision not to run for another term, and thus Ishiba became elected, and that’s all over the course of four years, which is usually how long Presidents in the United States last unless they run for a second term. Before I forget, also during that time, Abe Shinzo was unfortunately assassinated on July 8, 2022, which led to the investigation of the Unification Church; Don’t worry, because we will be making sure to talk about that later on…

For now, for the rest of this essay, let’s take a look at Japan’s last four Prime Ministers (Abe Shinzo, Suga Yoshihide, Kishida Fumio, and Ishiba Shigeru), including their background, their political careers, and their impact on the Japanese people, as well as discussing whether the dominating LDP may actually be creating more of a hassle for Japan than actually contributing to it, even after all these years.

First of all, however, I would like to stress that if you are not used to me being political in these essays like I already have when I wrote about the COVID-19 pandemic’s 5th anniversary or Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, or if you’re not really someone who likes getting into politics or wants to talk about it because you feel like it’s uncomfortable to bring up without starting a sort of confrontation, then this is not for you. You’re better off reading any of my other previous essays like the one I wrote about Studio Ghibli or Doraemon or about any of the Japanese actresses I fantasize in my sleep, so please read those instead! I can assure you that this essay is going to get more uninteresting the further you read on. Even if I was never interested in subject matter like this one, it’s better off that I write about it anyway so that I can get a better understanding of how politics in Japan work through the perspectives of those who run the country.

Incidentally, I thought that the Japanese people don’t like being openly expressive in public unless they’re on their phones or starring in a TV drama or even being interviewed by an Asian Boss reporter, and that includes having political discussions; While a certain amount of people would find talking about politics boring because of how little things are actually progressing in the country, others hold strong beliefs about things that they care about the most, such as those calling for the legalization of same-sex marriage or those out on the streets who once yelled “Stop the steal” in protest because they believe Donald Trump won the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election (He did not)! Aside from those instances, it’s probably only in the voting booths during General Elections when the Japanese people start to show their true political colors, isn’t it? It’s already been the case with the most recent General Election that was held in late October of 2024, when the results revealed that the LDP lost a majority in the House of Representatives and instead trailed behind the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDPJ), coming to show that the Japanese people were starting to get really tired of the LDP especially since after the controversy surrounding that slush funds scandal, and want to be led by a political party who could actually do something about the country’s inflation problem. Perhaps that would be the only time that the people of Japan are actually interested in politics other than watching or reading the news, by means of actually heading to the polls to cast their ballots. Anyhow, if you don’t like reading this because Japanese politics are not that interesting to you, please read something else now!

Let’s start off with perhaps the most well-known of Prime Ministers in modern-day Japan: the late Abe Shinzo, who held the position for more than nine nonconsecutive years, more than any other Prime Minister in the country’s history. Born in Tokyo as a son of a former foreign minister, eventually becoming a graduate of Seikei University in Political Sciences, and formerly representing Kobe Steel, Ltd. at one point, he first joined up the ranks in Japanese politics by becoming Executive Assistant to the Minister of Foreign Affairs in 1982, then working his way to the top of the ladder after first being elected as Member of the House of Representatives in 1993. Many years after that, in 2006, Koizumi Junichiro ultimately had to step down as Prime Minister due to term limits, and Abe ended up taking his place while being recognized as Japan’s first Prime Minister born after World War II, but his first term didn’t last long mainly due to the government’s poor handling of pension records. He managed to recover from that fallout and rose back to the top, becoming Prime Minister once again starting in 2012, yet leaving a much more complicated legacy in this second term than in his first, depending on who you ask. It’s really up to you whether or not you thought Abe Shinzo was a great Prime Minister for Japan, and your opinion on this matter is understandable, as long as it’s legitimate and at least decent. While some people liked Abe because he gave the Japanese economy a fresh rebound probably since the impact of the bubble economy of the mid-1980s to early 1990s, not to mention he was actually being tough on North Korea, and he at least tried to make the country feel better about itself and not have to continuously be ashamed for what it did during World War II (as well as coming up with the interesting terminology of “Abenomics”), other people disliked him because first of all, he’s a right-wing conservative (and surely, you know how right-wing conservatives feel about the LGBTQ+ community), and also because of such major missteps such as his unsuccessful attempts to revise particularly the “peace clause” of Article 9 of Japan’s postwar Constitution, his infamous 2013 visit to the Yasukuni Shrine, his handling of COVID-19 in Japan which people thought was problematic (for example, those bizarre-looking “Abenomasks” that he sponsored that clearly did not work out well), the fact that illegal payments were made by members of his administration for cherry blossom viewing parties, among various other types of problems that normal politicians usually face. During anti-Abe protests, people were even comparing him to Hitler, for heaven’s sakes! He did become best friends with U.S. President Donald Trump during his first administration from 2017-2021, and he did create quite a show by dressing up as Super Mario during the closing ceremony of the Rio 2016 Olympics (and also managed to bring the 2020 Olympics to Tokyo, Japan)! To make a long story short, if I told you that I thought Abe Shinzo felt like a really nice fellow despite all of his setbacks and criticisms, would you be able to believe me?

Sadly, Abe Shinzo’s life came to a tragic end on July 8, 2022, when he was assassinated while giving a campaign rally speech in Nara by a 41-year-old with a homemade gun who held a grudge against Abe because he was connected to the Unification Church, a South Korea-originated religious organization that the assassin thought was responsible for causing his mother financial turmoil after she herself donated to the organization. Currently, the Unification Church is still under investigation and, just recently, even faces being dissolved by a court in Japan. The news of Abe’s sudden assassination sent shockwaves all across Japan, and even though there were people who protested the country holding a state funeral for him due to costs and especially because of the LDP possibly revealing to have shady ties with the Unification Church – and let’s not forget that the Japanese people must’ve thought their country did not need a state funeral at all because Abe’s clearly not the Emperor, and the land of the rising sun is obviously not an authoritarian state like Russia or North Korea – it all just comes to show that it doesn’t matter that Abe may have had links to a corrupt religious organization that led to his demise; No matter what side of the political spectrum someone is on, political violence is absolutely wrong and must not be tolerated, period. I would feel absolutely sorry for anyone who is too politically partisan to understand such things, especially anyone who is glad that Abe Shinzo was dead because of the damage that they thought he was causing to the country due to his somewhat hawkish policies. If you’re reading this right now, and you don’t like Abe Shinzo at all, that is fine; You can criticize him however you want to because it’s called freedom of speech, but that does not mean he deserved what he got!

Widely regarded as Abe Shinzo’s “right-hand man,” Suga Yoshihide, who was best known as Chief Cabinet Secretary throughout the entirety of Abe’s second administration, immediately took over the position as Prime Minister of Japan in the fall of 2020 after Abe had to step down in order to take care of his health, but just how exactly did he get to that point? Well, we first need to start off with his youth, where, instead of taking over his family business of growing strawberries like his father, Suga decided to earn a Bachelor’s Degree in Law at Hosei University in 1973 after graduating from high school. Then, after years of becoming Yokohama’s City Council member, he eventually went on to represent both the final year of the Koizumi administration and the entirety of Abe’s first administration, holding top positions related to Internal Affairs and Communications. Of course, one can assume that Abe was very best friends with Suga enough for him to stick around by his side through thick and thin, and their friendship was taken to a new height in 2012 when Abe won a second inconsecutive term as Prime Minister, in which during that time he selected Suga as his Chief Cabinet Secretary, where he continued to stick around with him ever since, although no one really cared much about what Suga was doing compared to Abe. However, he was the one who announced the new Reiwa era starting in 2019 after Naruhito became next in line to become the Emperor of Japan following Akihito, but that’s beside the point! Around the time that Suga finally became the Prime Minister of Japan, the country, like the rest of the world, was still grappling with the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Japanese people thought that his way of handling the then-major health crisis was much worse, new infections occurring daily with no end in sight, and the holding of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics after a one-year delay despite COVID-19 not helping matters, all resulting in low approval ratings and his ultimate resignation after only a year. I’m afraid there’s very little else to say about Suga than that. Suga’s tenure may have been short-lived compared to many other Japanese Prime Ministers before him, but what he lacked in public support and his handling of COVID-19 in Japan, he made up for with the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics at least having their moments, but I cannot necessarily say that there were people in the country who still managed to find the Suga administration to feature anything memorable beyond what I’ve just explained to you.

Whatever Suga couldn’t do as Prime Minister of Japan over the course of a year, Kishida Fumio eventually stepped up to the plate for three subsequent years. He spent a majority of his childhood in his native Japan, and I say “a majority” because it turns out that he spent three years at an elementary school in New York because his father had to work abroad in the United States, taking his family with him, and that ought to be highly qualifying experience necessary to become a Prime Minister who communicates with pretty much all kinds of political figures from around the world. Eventually, Kishida Fumio graduated at Waseda University’s School of Law and went on to work as an employee of the Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan (now Shinsei Bank), probably using his knowledge of economics to want to help people’s lives financially. After taking on numerous political positions representing various administrations starting from 1987 as a Secretary to a member of the House of Representatives, he finally became Prime Minster after a vote, mainly inheriting Suga’s messy response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan, which the country managed to recover from and nowadays enjoys an influx of foreign tourists to a degree. Just because he also suffered low approval ratings, however, did not mean he wasn’t without his own share of moments, including being tough on Russia during its invasion of Ukraine, and contributing to strengthening ties between Japan and South Korea as they join together – with the help of the United States under then-President Joe Biden, of course – to figure out how to take China and North Korea head on. As for his initial promise of wanting to help people’s lives financially, he did at least try until a slush funds scandal placed a roadblock on his ambition. It kicked off in the fall of 2023 when it was revealed that a certain portion of income and expenses that came from factions from the second Abe administration illegally went underreported, leading to significant backlash from the Japanese public over where their taxpayer money was supposed to be going. This was the major corruption scandal that came about from the LDP that apparently caused Kishida to take responsibility by announcing he would not be running for a second term as Prime Minister, leaving the job to Ishiba Shigeru and resulting in a snap election. The fact that Abe Shinzo was assassinated not even a year since Kishida took office only put more burden and stress onto his position, adding another blow to the LDP. Kishida may have lasted longer than Suga when it came to consecutive years served as Prime Minister, and his response to Russia regarding its aggression towards Ukraine, most especially, remains worth of valor, but if people didn’t find Suga to be much interesting to discuss, neither would’ve Kishida, and needless to say, there ought to be way too much going on in Japan to even focus on those two anyway, that I can agree on!

Speaking of Ishiba Shigeru, former representative of the Mitsui Bank, and the current Prime Minister of Japan by the time I’m writing this, he has been known to be elected to the House of Representatives in just about every General Election held in Japan, though I cannot necessarily say that’s the main reason he replaced Kishida as the Prime Minister! He hopes to use his top governmental position to distance himself from the policies of Abe Shinzo, resulting in the rest of the LDP casting doubts that he would perform well. As it turns out, Ishiba is pretty much like me, in a sense that we both enjoy anime, we both believe that women can do anything, and we both advocate for same-sex marriage to be legal in Japan. We both also see diversity as a virtue to what makes a society even greater, and we both love listening to JPOP music! Unfortunately, the similarities must end there. So far, during his time as Prime Minister of Japan, Ishiba is currently struggling to win over the Japanese public – evident by a series of low approval ratings – mainly due to what they believe is his way of handling the country’s continuing inflation problem (especially with the price of rice being unsustainable, among other rising food prices), and what’s not helping matters right now is not only the fact that he was under fire recently for distributing gift vouchers worth at least 100,000 yen to LDP-associated lawmakers during a dinner which were eventually returned (which may have had the Japanese people question once again where exactly their taxpaying money was actually going), but also that his administration must find a way to maneuver around the situation surrounding tariffs imposed from the United States by President Donald Trump that would only cause imported/exported goods between the two countries to be more expensive, even though the tariffs are currently paused by the time I finish writing this. One can only put their hands together and pray that if Ishiba can connect better with the young people so that they can become more interested in politics, and if he can do more to push for the legislation of same-sex marriage in some way the same Thailand already has, not to mention find any reasonable solution possible so that Japan’s relationship with the United States can improve despite Trump’s presence in the Oval Office, and that the economy of Japan can be able to fully return to the glory of what it once was before COVID-19 hit, resulting in the total and complete permanent satisfaction of those who make goods and those who purchase them, then and only then could his approval ratings increase consistently. Then again, we don’t live in a perfect world, governmental leaders are not guaranteed for success, not every possible solution available is going to work, and politics in general will always be crazy, but nonetheless, this is the world that we live in, and in this case, the Japanese people may have to learn to put their trust in Ishiba somewhat and root for him to do his job well in order to survive economic hardship quite like this. And don’t worry about the gift voucher scandal at the moment; he has since apologized over it, yet that doesn’t mean the impact of the incident will go away really quick!

… Or maybe I spoke too late about the Japanese-people-having-to-put-their-trust-in-Ishiba thing…!

Since the start of the second Abe administration in 2012, beginning with the General Election in Japan that was held that year, the LDP held strong results by keeping the most seats in the House of Representatives than any other political party in the country and only losing few with each election that was held, most likely because of how much trust Abe Shinzo gained from most of the Japanese people at the time, not to mention that he was somewhat popular despite some of the problems that other citizens had with him, as I mentioned here so far. Each time that the LDP won or kept the majority of House of Representatives seats in those General Elections only further cemented the party’s reputation as being the most dominant since its formation, assumedly due to the fact that a majority of people in Japan couldn’t find any other political party they could depend on, either because they’re not interested in that party’s policies, or they just don’t like getting political in general either. Does that exactly mean that everyone in Japan who votes for the LDP is considered a right-wing conservative? Not exactly; And Japan certainly isn’t a conservative country either, because that would be a very silly thing to say! Anyone and everyone who votes for a political party or candidate has their own reasons for doing so, regardless of whether or not it’s because of sticking to the political stances that they stand by, but that’s as personal as personal can get (Remember, not everyone in Japan is an extrovert)! Still, General Election results can show how the majority of the public feel about the state of the country that they live in, and in the three General Elections that were held between 2012 and 2017, the Japanese people showed the rest of the world that when it came to continuing to display confidence and economic prowess, Abe Shinzo was the one that they called on, and the LDP was the political party that helped him along the way…

… That all changed, however, around the time of the 2021 and 2024 General Elections, in which the LDP began losing more seats than they did back in 2017, while the CDPJ was gradually trying to catch up when it came to seat count. Those results came to show that the Japanese people were not happy with the way the LDP under the two Prime Ministers that came after Abe were handling the COVID-19 pandemic in light of constant infection upticks, as well as getting fed up with the amount of financial scandals that have kept occurring like the ones I already talked about (i.e. the ones related to cherry blossom viewing parties, slush funds, and gift vouchers). I guess that those factors especially were what caused the Japanese people to start to lose hope in the LDP, as they came to the realization that the LDP had become the leading political party in the country for far too long, and that all of the efforts attempted to help stabilize Japan as a significant economic power up to this point were no longer enough, meaning it’s time for a different political party to step in and take the lead, but the question remains: What other uninteresting political party in Japan would be able to succeed where the LDP had failed? What other political party in Japan would definitely make sure that all of the needs and interests of the people representing the 4th largest economy in the world are satisfied? Surely, they’re all banking on the CDPJ, a liberal center-to-left-wing political party (which formed following the dissolution of the Democratic Party in 2017) that I’m sure had suffered fewer financial scandals than the LDP had, right? Right?! RIGHT?!?

Perhaps one final question remains: With everything that has happened in Japanese politics from the second Abe administration all the way up to the current Ishiba administration, is the LDP actually creating more of a hassle for Japan than actually contributing to it? Personally, I would think “No,” simply due to the fact that politics in Japan can’t possibly be as crazy as that of some other country that I can name, you know, the one that is labeled the #1 largest economy in the world and has the third-largest population; You know which country I’m talking about! With that being said, it’s usually normal in politics for a world leader to go through controversies and scandals that cause people to have second opinions about who is serving them, severely impacting that world leader’s reputation for better or for worse, and Japan’s last three Prime Ministers and its current one are no exceptions. Regardless of the problems that they’ve all had to go through during their tenures though, as well as high disapproval rates suffered, they still seemed to manage to become decent human beings whose only goal is to connect with their people and understand what they want their country to be. From what I have experienced reading news articles regarding, and researching, Abe, Suga, Kishida, and Ishiba, especially for the purposes of this essay, they didn’t seem like very shady or unlikeable figures to me, and their political views can’t be as extreme and vile as that of, say, Sugita Mio or Arai Masayoshi! They just came across circumstances that were beyond their control, and thankfully they managed to learn from their mistakes afterwards, like every accountable politician should. To make matters worse, I didn’t actually interview one single person out on the streets to hear their take on all four of Japan’s Prime Ministers much less any other political views they would like to share, in order to better improve the credibility of my research for this essay! Oh well, I’m not even a journalist, so…

One thing that can be made certain, however, is that there is absolutely more to Japan than just politics, just like every other country in the world, which is why it can be understandable why either we have people who deliberately stay out of political discussions because it forces them to get out of their comfort zone, or they don’t find Abe, Suga, Kishida, or Ishiba that interesting enough to talk about and would rather discuss things that interest them more like sports or pop culture. Now that’s definitely the kind of the person that I would rather be, and that is why I do not believe the LDP is causing more of a hassle for Japan than contribute to it, at least not now; Japan can advance towards the future just fine despite the political party taking charge, and the political situation in the country is certainly nothing compared to a variety of other countries, especially those in which people fear that their human rights are under threat. Yet, in the end, if something does happen in Japan that makes its people go angry to the point where they start pointing fingers at the politicians, most especially the LDP as long as they’re still around, they better have reasonable proof to back up their accusations or their arguments are meaningless. Realistically, if you don’t like getting political, that is definitely fine (and thank you for practicing freedom of speech by making such decisions), but don’t start crying if politics decides to come back and haunt you afterward, so don’t ignore the fact that politics are there, and make sure you stay informed as much about the truth as possible so that you’ll know if your governmental leadership is putting in more effort to contribute to your well-being, financially or not. That reminds me: You also really should’ve read something else when you had the chance!