Monday, July 21, 2025

‘Right-Wing’ Populist Party Ascendent in the Land of the Rising Sun – HotAir

July 21, 2025
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'Right-Wing' Populist Party Ascendent in the Land of the Rising Sun – HotAir
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During the pandemic, the Japanese government imposed draconian restrictions on its citizens, as did many other countries, including the United States, which had no lack of enthusiastic adherents. 





Many of those COVID measures were complicated by Japanese culture and social structure (slow vaccine rollouts, etc.), and the deaf ear the ruling government turned to the public when there was significant conflict between their plans and public wishes. As there is no viable political competition, there is little impetus for the government to heed the voice of the people.

…Japan’s inability to adapt structurally and culturally also made some of the more successful pandemic policies from abroad difficult to implement. The same workplace norms that have hurt Japan’s economy made social distancing an impossibility during the pandemic. Japan has the lowest rate of pandemic telecommuting among advanced economies, and the highest rate of individuals who say that their job cannot be conducted from home. Trains remained packed at rush hour throughout the pandemic (good luck avoiding the three C’s), and a plan to reduce the number of trains per day made them more crowded as commuters were forced to go to work by their employers. Clear government guidance and credible commitments to subsidize adjustment costs could have prompted businesses to shift to a new normal.

In other cases, Japan has had difficulty ending certain practices put in place during the pandemic. For example, despite repeated notices from Japan’s health ministry that masking is unnecessary outdoors, the majority of the public continues to mask up outside.

The Tokyo Olympics – Japan’s first experiment in resuming international travel – also deserves special mention. The Tokyo Olympics was deeply unpopular in Japan. The general public, opposition parties, the vice chair of Japan’s COVID-19 advisory panel, and even the Emperor called for the cancellation of the Olympics or increases in safety measures until opening day. The majority of citizens preferred cancellation or postponement. However, public opinion largely fell on deaf ears as Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party insisted on holding the Olympics.

This is a story familiar to observers of contemporary Japanese politics. The political system can be unresponsive to the people, as no viable opposition party currently exists. Scholars have shown how the ruling Liberal Democratic Party has not represented the median voter, using government resources to maintain its dominating coalition. The opposition offers alternative policy platforms, but remains fragmented, eroding democratic accountability.





In response to the anti-COVID lockdown protests that erupted over these policies, a new Japanese political party was born: Sanseitō (aka Japan First). It first won a lower house seat in 2022, two years after its founding, and has since turned from battling overly restrictive government dictates to arguing against Japanese immigration policies, ‘woke-think,’ and urging against ‘globalist’ attitudes while proudly emphasizing Japanese nationalism.

It also doesn’t hurt that the party’s founder is a rabble-rousing firebrand named Sohei Kamiya who has taken MAGA brand-building methods to heart and used them to turn staid, suited, and spoken Japanese politics on their head.

…Launching in early 2020, Sanseito gained attention among conservatives with its series of YouTube videos centred on anti-vaccine and anti-masking rhetoric.

It won its first seat in the upper house in 2022, following a campaign in which it fashioned itself as an “anti-globalist” party. Supporters at rallies spoke of a world where a cabal of globalists and financial institutions were conspiring to lord over powerless citizens.

In its recent campaign, the party made populist pledges such as consumption tax cuts and an increase in child benefits. But it’s been most well known for its nationalist “Japanese First” platform rallying against immigrants, with its leader Sohei Kamiya previously saying that he had drawn inspiration from US President Donald Trump’s “bold political style”.

Sanseito’s promises have won it the support of young conservatives online – cutting into the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s (LDP) conservative support base.





Kamiya’s approach has also ruffled some serious feathers in the media, with his platforms and admiration for the gains of European populist parties like Alternative für Germany (AfD), Reform UK, and National Rally garnering him rebukes from TV commentators for his ‘ultra-nationalist,’ and supposedly xenophobic stances.

DIVERSITY COULD BE OUR STRENGTH

There has been increased pressure on Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s government over inflation, not having a tariff deal with the US done, and the looming importation of thousands of Bangladeshis in an agreement he’s been hammering out with that country as the Japanese look for more workers.

…Prof Yunus also requested Japan to increase scholarships for Bangladeshi young people to study in Japan, as well as expand opportunities for employment. “Many young people can go to Japan for work too. The issue is language. We proposed that Japanese teachers come here or offer distance learning so our people can learn Japanese language and workplace etiquette,” he said.

Always an insular culture, the presence of Bangladeshis who are already in Japan has caused resentment as they are not assimilation-friendly. Voters were not keen on welcoming more, and it was just one more strike against a conservative Liberal Democrat government that was seen as having strayed from traditionally more conservative Japanese values, especially irritating those followers of the late, beloved Shinzo Abe.





There have also been issues with the resident Kurdish population, causing friction.

The party was punished severely in last national night’s election for the Upper House, losing the entire right wing of its support.

…”Prime Minister Ishiba is considered not conservative enough by many supporters of the former Prime Minister [Shinzo] Abe,” he says. “They think that he just doesn’t have the nationalistic views on history, he doesn’t have the strong views against China that Abe had.”

Instead, voters are turning to Sanseito and other opposition parties to “vent their frustrations and show the LDP they will pay for turning away from the conservative ideals the party once stood for”, says Rintaro Nishimura, an associate at The Asia Group’s Japan Practice – naming the bill that was passed under Kishida to promote LGBTQ awareness as an example.

“The success of [opposition parties in] this cycle shows that voters are sick of the status quo establishment politics,” he says.

This was also shown in the votes for another small opposition party, the centre right Democratic Party For People, who won 16 seats in Sunday’s election – a big jump from its previous 5 seats.





The chamber swung definitively right.

Prime Minister Ishiba is hanging on by his fingernails, as he no longer has a majority.

But the politically wounded Prime Minister insists that somehow he’s going to be able to work through the challenges of tariff negotiations and inflation among other pressing national issues and international threats.

Observers are skeptical.

Japanese Premier Shigeru Ishiba vowed to remain in his post on Monday after his ruling coalition suffered a bruising defeat in upper house elections, prompting some in his own party to doubt his leadership as the opposition weighed a no-confidence motion.

The embattled prime minister told a news conference he would remain in office to oversee tariff talks with the United States and other pressing matters, such as rising consumer prices that are straining the world’s fourth-largest economy.

“I will stay in office and do everything in my power to chart a path toward resolving these challenges,” Ishiba said, adding that he intended to speak directly with U.S. President Donald Trump as soon as possible and deliver tangible results.

Analysts say his days may be numbered, however, having also lost control of the more powerful lower house in elections last year and shedding votes on Sunday to opposition parties pledging to cut taxes and tighten immigration policies.





Ishiba is going into his 8th round of tariff talks with Trump and now he’s been knee-capped by these election results. If anyone will smell blood in the water, it’s Trump.

His party is already looking for a young gun to replace him with, somebody flashy enough to appeal to the voters they’ve lost to Kimayo, but who will hold the voters they still have.

Longtime observers of Japanese politics are cautious not to call the game too early, knowing that the Japanese electorate is ‘notoriously fickle’ and will switch back to the comfortably familiar or a shiny new party on a dime.

For all of that, this was a shock to the central nervous system of a sclerotic political system, and as large as the swing was, it could well be here to stay.

It has the potential to be a mess as Japan tries to straighten it out.


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