Shigeru Ishiba could well become infamous for being the shortest-lived prime minister in Japan's history after four weeks of bumbling, fumbling and a string of policy flip-flops.
Former Prime Ministers Fumio Kishida and Yoshihide Suga mobilized their followers en masse to back Ishiba in the Liberal Democratic Party leadership election in late September, presumably because they thought Ishiba could be more easily manipulated than other candidates.
Heeding their advice, once prime minister, Ishiba reversed his stance: Instead of first holding extended parliamentary committee talks to set out a clear course, he rushed into the earliest snap election in Japan's history just eight days after becoming leader. That is what the Kishida-Suga duo and the media darling but otherwise inept Shinjiro Koizumi (son of former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi) — Ishiba's choice for LDP election strategy chairman — pushed the party head to do.
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