Japan in Trump's sights | This week in Japanese politics

The budget moved to the upper house while Ishiba accepts a revision, the markets were volatile -- and Japan came in for criticism from Trump on multiple fronts. Plus: an anniversary sale!

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The rundown

With the help of Ishin no Kai, the FY2025 budget moved to the House of Councillors — though Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru conceded a policy change soon thereafter that will force additional changes to the budget before it is passed. The LDP is spinning up efforts to consider political reforms — including to party governance — as its seventieth anniversary approaches, while Tamaki Yūichirō returned to the leadership of the Democratic Party for the People (DPFP) and immediately launched attacks against the ruling parties and Ishin no Kai. Japan’s markets were volatile, not least because of the words of US President Donald Trump, who accused Japan of currency manipulation and questioned the asymmetry of the US-Japan alliance. Meanwhile, the Japanese government hosted as an “economic 2+2” with the United Kingdom that reaffirmed their cooperation on defending global trading rules. Plus: several articles that look at the structure of Ishiba government. All of this and more in This Week in Japanese Politics.