Long-ruling party faces crisis with populists capturing working people’s vote as traditional rural base shrinks

The embattled prime minister said he would remain in office to oversee tariff talks with the United States and other pressing matters.

This means that Ishiba no longer has easy control over the upper or lower houses of parliament; last October, the LDP lost control of the more powerful lower chamber, marking a major upset for a party that has ruled Japan for most of its post-World War II history.