Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has been facing harsh criticism from his own Liberal Democratic Party, the opposition and the public following revelations that he handed out gift vouchers worth ?100,000 ($668) each to 15 rookie LDP lawmakers earlier this month.
The timing of the reports ¡ª which initially appeared in the Asahi Shimbun ¡ª could not have been worse.
Ishiba had just apologized in parliament for his fumble over reversing a hike in medical copayment caps ¡ª a policy shift that now requires an unprecedented second revision of the fiscal 2025 budget that the prime minister had hoped to pass by March 2 in the Lower House.
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