Shigeru Ishiba, who once vowed to make Japan "smile again", saw support for his administration steadily erode as his government struggled to contain consumer price rises. TOKYO: Shigeru Ishiba took over Japan's ruling party promising to revive it from scandal. Less than a year later, he is stepping down as prime minister after three electoral losses shook the party's grip on power. An unlikely premier who vowed to make Japan "smile again", Ishiba won the Liberal Democratic Party leadership