How a far-right ‘Japanese First’ party gained new ground

For three years, once a fringe opposition party hired only one seat in Japan’s upper house with 248 -seats.

But on Sunday, Sanseito appeared as one of the biggest winners of Japan’s elections – he walked away with 14 seats.

The party was born during the Covid-19 pandem in 2020, where he came to the fore with Youtube videos that spread conspiracy theories about vaccines.

More recently, he warned his platform against the “silent invasion of foreigners” on a nationalist “Japanese first” agenda.

Sanseito’s increase in popularity reflects the increasing discomfort from immigration and excessive vaccine – the ruling government is trying to deal with a new committee created days before the election.

But do these gains point to a permanent shift in Japan?

The Sanseito, which was released in the beginning of 2020, attracted attention among the Youtube videos series focused on anti-anti-Ant-Massing rhetoric and conservatives.

Following a campaign he shaped as “anti-globalist” party, he won his first seat in the upper house in 2022. The supporters in Rally talked about a world in which a rudeness of globalists and financial institutions conspired on Lord’s weak citizens.

In his last campaign, the party made populist promises such as consumption tax deductions and an increase in child benefits. However, mostly, leader Sohei Kamiya was previously inspired by US President Donald Trump’s “brave political style”.

Sanseito’s promises won the support of the online young conservatives – cut the conservative support base of the ruling liberal democratic party (LDP).

As a result of the weekend election, the LDP leader and Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who struggled to inspire confidence while fighting against Japan’s economic winds, the cost of living and trade negotiations with the United States, emphasizes the disappointment of voters.

Jeffrey Hall, a lecturer in Japanese studies in Kana International Research University, said that the support given to more right -wing party has removed conservative voters from LDP.

“Prime Minister Ishiba is not considered sufficiently conservative by many supporters of the former Prime Minister. [Shinzo] Abe, “he says.

He said: “They do not have nationalist views on history, they do not have strong views of ABE against China.”

Mr. Hall, the party’s win “for the next six years, [Sanseito] They will feel much less restricted and much more free … [to express its] Conspiracy theories, anti -false expressions, very strong revisionist views about history “.

However, despite this election gains, Sanseito still remains below the minimum number of seats required to send budget bills to the upper home. And the stronger in the lower house, only three seats holding.

47 -year -old Kamiya was a member of the LDP for a long time at some point of his political career. During the 2012 general elections, the party’s president Shinzo Abe finally made a campaign for his own name, although he finally lost the race.

Kamiya launched Sanseito in March 2020 and was the only candidate to be elected to the top room of the party in 2022.

The former self -defense force reserve explicitly credit for shaping Trump’s approach and was afraid of political and financial elite.

“Under globalism, multinational companies changed Japan’s policies for their own purposes,” Kagoshima said. He said. “If we can’t resist this external pressure, Japan will be a colony!”

Earlier this year, after calling gender equality policies as a mistake, they said that they would prevent women from working and having more children.

When the party was asked about the attractiveness of the party, he said that he could be “more echoed with men” because he was “warm”.

Following the elections of Sunday, Kamiya promised to secure “50 to 60 chairs” in the future elections, so “[the party’s] Policies will finally become reality “.

In addition, after the game, where nationalist policy does not mean “completely prohibited foreigners”, Nippon tried to withdraw some of his previous statements in an interview with TV.

The number of foreign residents in Japan broke 3.8 million records at the end of 2024. This figure points to an increase of 10.5% compared to the previous year, according to immigration officials – but still constitute only 3% of the country’s total population.

According to the National Tourism Organization, the number of tourists reached the highest level of approximately 36.9 million last year.

Sanseito accused the ruling LDP for policies that allow more foreigners to the country and captured the increasing discomfort on migration.

Mr. Hall is often surfaces in countries dealing with an anti -immigration rhetorical, weakening economy.

The authority added fuel to the fire and created a “big foreign problem”.

“[Sanseito] He touched the disappointment of immigration, and perhaps unfair feeling that immigrants had risen too much. “

Japan has traditionally been careful against the migration, but the government, which faces an aging population, has relieved immigration laws to increase manpower in recent years.

Some Japanese people were disappointed of the influx of foreigners and accused them for increasing crime and inflation.

On Tuesday, shortly a week before the election, the authorities established a new committee aimed at alleviating citizens’ concerns and promised to shape “a regular and harmonious unity society with foreign nationals”.

But now it has come too late – and the rise of Sanseito may indicate a turning point in the political landscape of Japan.

“I think people have been saying that Japan has no populist right for years or that it is not the most accurate populist,” says Mr. Hall. “But I guess [the result] He has proven that this was a possibility to happen in Japan, and probably staying here. “