Japan has seen three prime ministers in four years - who could be its new leader after Shigeru Ishiba??

Japan's Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has announced his resignation after less than a year in the role - following two crushing election losses.

His resignation came a day before his opponents in his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) were expected to vote him out.

His departure sets the stage for yet another leadership contest in Tokyo, the third in four years.

But the country's future leader faces a daunting task - balancing fraught US-Japan relations, rising inflation and a cost of living crisis, and a government that has lost its majority in both houses of parliament.

In 2024, Ishiba replaced then outgoing prime minister Fumio Kishida, whose popularity plunged in the wake of a corruption scandal involving the LDP, rising living costs and a slumping yen.