AS POLITICAL DEADLOCK CONTINUES PM ISHIBA IS HAVING A BALL

PMs just wanna have fun

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba is in an odd position. Since resigning as LDP leader, he has been out of power but still in office.

This odd situation will continue until his LDP successor Sanae Takaichi (or a politician from a rival party) can get enough parliamentary votes to succeed him as PM.

But with no party having an overall majority, this process is taking a long time. In the meantime, Ishiba is just concentrating on the perks and privileges of his office and having a grand old time, as you can see in the photo above, where he is meeting two cute high school girls because...why the heck not!? 

Below - meeting a cuddly robot that gently nibbles your finger and wags its tail when petted, created by the Yukai Engineering Co., Ltd.

Next, this is supposed to image recognition technology and an AI system for evaluating driving skills, but really the bro is just gaming:

Here he is hanging out with another "lame duck," this time the frankly weird mascot from the Osaka Expo, whose relevance ended with the closure of the Expo on 13th October. 

Ishiba dropping in on the Fashion World Tokyo expo to pick up an award for "best glasses" and have a laugh with journalists. 

In fact, if the political deadlock continues until the end of the month, he'll still be Prime Minister when this famous American clown and his "porn star" wife pay a visit to Japan!