Today would be the last blog I would be writing, until further now, I was focusing on legal matters or law in Japan. However, today I would like to introduce the topic which would be little bit different from previous posts that the future law would change. Today would be the last blog I would be writing, until further now, I was focusing on legal matters or law i n Japan. However, today I would like to introduce the topic which would be little bit different from previous posts that the future law would change.
Topic Overview:
Takaichi informed representatives of the ruling coalition of her plan on January 14. She will hold a press conference on January 19 to explain the details. Two election dates are being considered on February 8 or February 15.
The ruling Liberal Democratic Party has lost its majority in both chambers of the Diet after losing recent national elections. By holding an early election, Takaichi hopes to gain more seats and make it easier to manage the Lower House.
My personal view:
First of all, I was not familiar with how politics work in Japan, so I did not understand political terms such as “Kaisan,”which means the dissolution of the Lower House and the calling of a general election. Japanese politics uses many unique terms that are difficult for outsiders to understand unless they are politicians or people deeply interested in politics.
While writing this post, I researched Japanese politics and found it interesting, especially the original political terms and the rules behind them. The new election will be held as a strategy to gain more seats in the House of Representatives. I was impressed by how the election system works and how carefully it is used as a political strategy.
Why I decided to focus on this issue:
In my previous posts, I have been focusing on issues that have already brought change or are about to bring change. However, in this post, I wanted to share a topic that encourages us to think about what we can change ourselves and how we can take action as citizens. That topic is elections. For our generation, elections are not very familiar and are rarely discussed. Many people feel that elections do not concern them, so instead we tend to talk about social media, fashion, or movies. Because of this, I wanted to highlight the importance of elections and encourage people to participate by voting.
Thank you to everyone who has read or commented up to this point.
Bosack, M. M. (2026, January 13). Why Takaichi would call a snap election. The Japan Times. https://www.japantimes.co.jp/commentary/2026/01/13/world/why-a-japan-snap-election/
Takaichi tells coalition reps of plan to dissolve Lower House | The Asahi Shimbun Asia & Japan Watch. (n.d.). The Asahi Shimbun. https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/16283971
EU Elections: different ways of voting across Europe | European Youth Portal. (n.d.). European Youth Portal. https://youth.europa.eu/get-involved/democratic-participation/eu-elections-different-ways-of-voting-across-europe_en
MARI YAMAGUCHI, Associated Press. (2025, October 4). Japan’s ruling party elects Sanae Takaichi as new leader, likely to become first female PM. ABC11 Raleigh-Durham. https://abc11.com/post/japans-ruling-party-elects-sanae-takaichi-new-leader-become-first-female-prime-minister/17937884/
It may be risky for PM Sanae Takaichi to dissolve the Lower House with the expectation that the LDP (her party) will get greater support. There's a chance, of course, that just the opposite will happen, and opposition parties will gain even more seats. She has, no doubt, looked at polling numbers that show a drop in the popularity of such new parties as Sanseito, which had risen in popularity during the previous election partly because they used social media more effectively than traditional parties and they were able to fool young people about what policies they actually supported, such as removing provisions for pacifism and minimal human rights protections, and explicitly advocating that the Emperor govern Japan. These were exactly the conditions that led to WWII. During the previous election they gained seats because some people thought they were "reasonable" to want to put more restrictions on foreigners in Japan and they even masked their true ultra-right wing agenda by saying they supported organic farming or opposed vaccinations. This followed the MAHA (Make America Healthy Again) playbook of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., in the lead up to the previous US federal elections. Hopefully, in the next Lower House election people will look at the actual platforms of parties and not just accept the propaganda that's put out.
ReplyDeletePM Sanae Takaichi's standing has probably been hurt by her unnecessary statements about Taiwan, making for worsening relations with China that have affected trade and tourism. So, that makes her decision to hold elections now particularly risky. The only thing people may see that she's done well is handling Trump diplomatically by stoking his ego during his State visit just after she rose to the position of PM.
Will you vote in the upcoming election? Will the decision of who to vote for be a difficult one? Since I'm a permanent resident but not a citizen I can't vote in Japanese elections. I wish I could.
Notice that there's a lot of repetition in your first paragraph.
ReplyDelete