Its leader is a former supermarket manager who created his political party on YouTube in the depths of the coronavirus pandemic and campaigned on the Trumpian message “Japanese First.”
Now Japan’s burgeoning right-wing populist party Sanseito has emerged an unlikely winner in parliamentary elections this weekend.
Inspired by other populist right-wing groups that have sprung up in recent years, Sanseito bagged 14 seats in Japan’s upper house, according to public broadcaster NHK – a dramatic increase from the single seat it had occupied previously.
We’ll have to see what happens with the upper house and then the next elections. The LDP have failed to many, especially younger, voters. They see overtourism, falling wages, etc. the young groups get a lot of info from SNS, a lot of it less than the full truth. A lot of disinfo on what we get/do as foreigners in Japan (I’m a permanent resident here for a decade).
Thankfully, not all went far right. Some went for the dpftp which is another non-traditional party. The cdp is the main opposition, though they didn’t do spectacularly either.
I guess the question is if this is a blip or the new normal and how much impact they will have in the new government. If Japan doesn’t do something about misinfo and disinfo, I think things will get very bad.
Knowing that Japan’s economy is a mess right now, I suppose it isn’t too surprising that people struggling to make ends meet would be susceptible to this kind of right wing grift. People are mad and want change, party promises change, whether it’s actually the right kind of change isn’t called into question.
Exactly. This is why the non-standard parties did so well, racist and otherwise.