Ishiba Said Planning Strong Measures against High Prices

Tokyo, March 25 (Jiji Press)--Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba told Tetsuo Saito, head of Komeito, the junior coalition partner of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, on Tuesday that his government plans to launch strong measures against soaring prices.

Ishiba unveiled the plan in a meeting at the prime minister’s office, according to Saito.

With approval rates for Ishiba’s cabinet plunging due to public anger over his distribution of gift vouchers worth 100,000 yen to new lawmakers of his LDP, the prime minister apparently aims to roll out an attention-grabbing policy in the run-up to this summer’s election for the House of Councillors, the upper chamber of the Diet.

“We need to do something,” Saito told reporters after the meeting, referring to hikes in rice prices.

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