Ishiba, the prime minister, is shy..."I don't eat with politicians and business leaders".

The Mainichi Shimbun reported on the 30th that Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has not shown much expansion of his connections by interacting with a small number of people who are close to him since taking office.

Mainichi analyzed the prime minister's sympathy from the 1st of last month when Ishiba's cabinet was launched to the 28th of this month, and said Ishiba met with Hiroshi Moriyama, the secretary-general of the Liberal Democratic Party, most often except for the chief cabinet secretary and the deputy minister, who face each day at the prime minister's residence.

Prime Minister Ishiba met with Moriyama, a key member of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, 27 times in about two months. The number of interviews also included standing up and talking or someone else present.

Moriyama reportedly advised Prime Minister Ishiba to dissolve the House of Representatives early.

After Secretary-General Moriyama, he met with Prime Minister Ishiba in the order of Ryosei Akazawa (15 times), Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato (12 times), former Liberal Democratic Party chairman Shinjiro Koizumi (9 times), and Liberal Democratic Party chairman Itsunori Onodera (7 times).

Among them, Prime Minister Ishiba and his constituency, Tottori Prefecture, are close aides to Akazawa's economic recovery minister.

Tottori Prefecture is the least populated metropolitan municipality in Japan.

"The Akazawa Economic Regeneration Minister is also in charge of important policies of the Ishiba regime, including preparations for the establishment of a disaster prevention agency and wage increases," Mainichi said. "I have frequently visited the prime minister's residence since November when the regime started in earnest."

"The Akazawa Economic Regeneration Minister is the Prime Minister's counsellor and spiritual support," a senior government official told the newspaper.

Prime Minister Ishiba has attended about 20 meetings with officials from the political, business and Tottori prefectures over the past two months, but half of them only greeted at crowded events and had fewer dense meals, Mainichi said.

The newspaper said, "Only two occasions appear to have exchanged opinions while eating with business executives as a small number," adding that Prime Minister Ishiba showed a contrast with former Prime Ministers Fumio Kishida and Yoshihide Suga, who often ate with business officials.

"Prime Minister Ishiba, who is pointed out to have a weak base in the party, did not have many opportunities to have a dinner with a regime official who supported him," he added.

As the Liberal Democratic Party and the ruling New Komeito failed to win a majority of seats in the House of Representatives general election on the 27th of last month, there are observations inside and outside the political circle that the Ishiba regime may be short-lived.

Citing former Prime Minister Ishibashi Danjan's remarks during his speech to the extraordinary session of the National Assembly the previous day, Ishiba stressed that the ruling and opposition parties should cooperate through broad discussions.

Meanwhile, the Asahi Shimbun analyzed a political funding report released by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications the previous day that 95% of the buyers of tickets sold by 19 Ishiba cabinet members in the process of holding a political fundraising event called "Party" last year.

Last year, the Liberal Democratic Party paid a total of 850.5 million yen (about 7.9 billion won) to major executives.

Major Japanese political parties are pushing for the abolition of policy activity expenses, which do not require mandatory reporting of usage.