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Who are the contenders fighting to be the next Prime Minister of Japan?

Author
Newstalk ZB,
Publish Date
Fri, 12 Sept 2025, 6:57pm
Japan's Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's coalition lost its upper house majority in elections, local media projected, in a debacle that could end his leadership. Photo / Franck Robichon, AFP
Japan's Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's coalition lost its upper house majority in elections, local media projected, in a debacle that could end his leadership. Photo / Franck Robichon, AFP

Who are the contenders fighting to be the next Prime Minister of Japan?

Author
Newstalk ZB,
Publish Date
Fri, 12 Sept 2025, 6:57pm

Following the resignation of former Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, candidates have begun stepping forward to take his place. 

In the running is Shinjirō Koizumi, son of a former Prime Minister and the current agricultural minister and Takaichi Senai, who aims to become Japan’s first female Prime Minister. 

Asia business correspondent Peter Lewis told Heather duPlessis-Allan that this election could ‘break the mould’ of exclusively elderly men running for the position of Prime Minister. 

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