Hello from Tokyo. Months after Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party lost the July upper house election, LDP leader and Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba -- who had insisted on staying in office -- finally announced on Sunday that he would resign. Ishiba is set to step down about a year after taking up his post. The LDP plans to hold an election on Oct. 4 to choose its next chief.
However, the environment surrounding the vote is markedly different from a year ago. In the previous LDP leadership race, the victorious Ishiba was guaranteed the prime ministership. This time, if the opposition parties unite, there's a chance the new LDP head may be unable to take the reins as the nation's next prime minister.
And on Sunday, Anutin Charnvirakul, leader of the Bhumjaithai Party, became Thailand's new PM, succeeding Paetongtarn Shinawatra, who was removed by the country's top court late last month -- after just a year in power -- over her handling of the border dispute with Cambodia. On Tuesday, Nepali Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli, who returned to office in July last year, resigned, bowing to mounting pressure after failing to contain deadly protests against a social media ban and corruption.
The fact that these three prime ministers were forced to step down after serving only short terms highlights the instability of Asia's "revolving-door" leadership. The reasons behind the resignations of the leaders of Japan, Thailand and Nepal differ -- and the timing is certainly coincidental. Still, underlying these shaky changes is a shared challenge: rising public frustration driven by regional and domestic economic uncertainty, social unrest and escalating geopolitical tensions. Stay informed on Asia's deepening political turmoil with the latest news and analysis from Nikkei Asia.
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1. Indonesia faces a housing shortage of some 15 million homes. One of the key contributing factors is the country's anemic mortgage market. The nation's mortgage-to-GDP ratio is among the lowest among comparable Asian economies, driven by banks' conservative lending and a housing subsidy scheme that critics say hinders development. Some businesses are using technology to make it easier to obtain mortgages but meaningful change is only happening slowly.
2. Taiwan has seen an upsurge in damage to its undersea cables this year. In this visually rich feature packed with exclusive interviews, our veteran tech reporters in Taipei look at how the island is fighting back to keep its communications connections safe.
3. Japanese government bond yields are on the rise ahead of a central bank meeting scheduled for Thursday and Friday next week. While markets reckon a September rate hike is "off the table," expectations for one by the end of the year are pushing up yields. Political uncertainty induced by Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's surprise resignation announcement is another factor driving yields higher, bond watchers told our market reporters in Tokyo.
Wishing you a wonderful weekend!
Akito Tanaka
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