Japanese PM Ishiba wants to make his country happy again - but can he?

Newly minted leader has found himself with barely any room to manoeuvre

- Walter Sim

Japan's newly minted Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba used the grand occasion of his first policy speech to Parliament on Oct 4 to reminisce about a simpler time.

People were not wealthy, he said, but had smiles on their faces and kindness for one another.

"Before we knew it, we have become a society where people drag down and badmouth one another," the 67-year-old said at the tail end of his 35-minute speech. "I want to bring smiles back onto everyone's faces again."

Whether this wholesome vision for Japan cuts any ice with voters will be determined in an Oct 27 snap poll and, in what will be seen as populist, he has instructed his Cabinet to compile an economic relief package by the election to tackle rising costs of living.

Still, the public has cast a withering eye on the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) over a political slush fund scandal that involved nearly one in five lawmakers.

There clearly is also a lot to be unhappy about in a society where seven in 10 youth, according to a 2023 media consultancy survey, see no hope for the future.

Mr Ishiba carved a political name for himself as a maverick on the fringes of the LDP, having been one of the most strident critics of government policy and a foe of the late former prime minister Shinzo Abe.

Yet, having finally summited the pinnacle of politics on his fifth attempt, he has found himself with barely any room to manoeuvre.