Ishiba works through his birthday | This week in Japanese politics

An agenda for the summit and the government continues its search for votes as the budgetary process moves forward

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The rundown

Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru is visibly startled by a talking figure of Myaku-Myaku, mascot of the Osaka Expo, in the lobby of the Prime Minister’s Office. Screenshot by author.

Preparations for his summit with Donald Trump and ongoing budget negotiations gave Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru little respite as he celebrated his sixty-eighth birthday on Tuesday, 4 February. The ruling parties acknowledged that the government’s budget draft will likely be revised as they continue to talk with opposition parties about changes that could win their support and as the budget committee began a ministry-by-ministry review of spending. Meanwhile, the Ishiba government sought to downplay a seaming gap between the government and the Bank of Japan on inflation, and the finance ministry announced new inbound investment screening rules. The Ishiba government is drafting its wishlist for a joint statement at the US-Japan summit, and the prime minister continued his preparations for the meeting by consulting with his predecessors. All this and more, including a behind-the-scenes look at the Ishiba government’s shift on macroeconomic policy in a mid-week edition of This Week in Japanese Politics.