Has the MAGA movement arrived in Japan?

A Trump-inspired populist party has rocked elections in Japan. Jason Palmer, co-host of The Intelligence podcast and Moeka Iida, our Tokyo-based reporter, discuss how the fringe hard-right Sanseito party made significant gains and why Japanese politics is entering an era of instability

00:00 – Japanese politics is entering an unstable era
01:45 – What was the big debate in this election?
02:39 – How did the ruling party lose its grip?
03:49 – How has social media changed politics in Japan?
04:56 – What’s going to happen to the ruling party?

Listen to the rest of the episode: https://econ.st/4kTmdfA
Populism comes to Japan: https://econ.st/4kIU0YJ
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35 Comments

  1. 日本がなぜ移民政策に危機感を感じているかというとそれは欧州諸国の現状を見ているからです。
    日本の移民の数は少ない段階で手を打たなければ欧州諸国のように移民に悩まされるという危機感の
    現れです。
    現状を知っている外国人の方々が日本に警告をする動画を作っているのを見たことがあります。

  2. Following political upheavals in the United States, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in Japan has been labeled on social media as a deep state influenced by the Chinese Communist Party, and false rumors have spread claiming that it is promoting international communism (globalism).

    As a result, populist parties such as the Democratic Party for the People and the Sanseito, which share the same financial backers as the far-left NHK Party, have been gaining support by pledging policies such as reducing the consumption tax and expanding public works.

    This is, in essence, an economic management model of communism or socialism, in which the state controls the domestic market using funds derived from the deterioration of social security. In other words, the very parties criticizing the LDP are themselves heavily influenced by China.

  3. Alt right don’t work in Japan. MAGA can make a mess because the US is still the dominate power globally. Japan isn’t even remotely dominate in east Asia.

  4. Not only are there issues with immigrants coming to Japan, but there are also issues with foreigners buying up land, easily issuing licenses, easily providing welfare to foreigners, providing scholarships that do not need to be repaid to foreign university students, and easily naturalizing foreigners.There are a number of problems occurring.That is why we are trying to improve our laws and prioritize Japanese people born in Japan.

  5. This woman is ignorant to the fact that wealthy Chinese are running rampant buying up a lot of real estate in Japan and it has only just begun (I am a foreigner living in Japan) there is a very deep underlying contempt for Chinese in general over here, to be honest the Chinese that just come as tourists behave very differently here than they do in places like Australia or NZ or maybe it is just more noticeable, either way even this seemingly small issue is big enough to win many many votes over for the Japan first party as I call them and they can see what is going on in Europe etc with anything and everything available at a click and they do not want Japan to get over run and rightfully so, personally I am tired of anyone thinking of their own country first being called far right this label has to stop

  6. I guess this announcer would consider these news "dubious" and not consider them crimes:

    July 23 2025: Vietnamese living in Japan arrested for murdering and robbing a Japanese. 24-year-old Dam Duy Khang attacked a woman and her mother with a knife-like object at their home in Imari City on Saturday. Forty-year-old Japanese language teacher Mukumoto Maiko died. Her mother in her 70s suffered neck and other injuries. The assailant fled the scene.

    July 17 2025: Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested a male Nepalese. on June 24, Tufan Thapa, 26, allegedly dragged the woman, aged in her 20s, to a park in the ward and sexually assaulted her inside a toilet.

    JULY 30, 2025: Fukuoka Prefectural Police on Tuesday arrested a Nepalese man. Om Prakash Bhusal, 37, allegedly licked the thigh of the girl as she sat on a bench on the platform of JR Chikugo-Funagoya Station while waiting for a train.

  7. 1984 REX MUNDI ⚜️ LÚCIFER RAFAEL SERPA LIRA.
    O BRASIL, VENEZUELA, O TRÁFICO DE DROGAS QUEREM SE APROPRIAR, SE ASSOCIAREM DOS MEUS NEGÓCIOS, DO MEU PROJETO.
    EU NÃO QUERO E NÃO VOU COMPARTILHAR MINHA GRANA COM SERVIÇOS SOCIAIS Á MORADORES DE RUA, ONGS, COZINHAS COMUNITÁRIAS, ALBERGUES, VAGABUND😡S, VAGABUND⚠️S …..

  8. Sansei party is not far right wing but try to decolonize their post war scheme. "San" means participation, "Sei" means politics. They are encouraging people to pareticpate more to politics. Not a capitalist and numbed president like in the U.S…. American need a lot of works to decolonize their overjustified capitalism-colonizations system, regret in the past and change the present. Hope American do that to create New America that works to all.

  9. いや、MAGAの前に日本は安倍総理がいた。彼は「日本を取り戻す」と言っていた。
    No, before MAGA, Japan had PM Abe. He said he would "take back Japan".

  10. As has been the case for a long time, when reporting on Japan, the Western media use people of Korean or Chinese descent instead of Japanese, and never Japanese people. She must be of Korean descent. (Some people say I'm racist when I point this out, but I'm just giving my genuine opinion and pointing out the obvious.)

  11. I doubt all the people with suit and ties even have a lot of contact with migrant and don't just live in a bubble like most EU bureaucrats in Brussels

  12. 1984 REX MUNDI ⚜️ LÚCIFER RAFAEL SERPA LIRA.

    LÍDER MUNDIAL
    TOTALITÁRIO, AUTORITÁRIO
    GOVERNO ÚNICO
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    SIONISTA ELITE

    ESTOU MUITO ACIMA DA PIRÂMIDE, MUITO ACIMA DA LEI, EU FAÇO AS LEIS, EU SOU A LEI, TENHO PODER DE LEGISLAR, DERRUBAR PRESIDENTES E DESTRONAR OS REIS. FAZER GUERRAS, QUEBRAR BANCOS E MOEDAS, JOGAR PAÍSES E NAÇÕES NA MISÉRIA, ESPALHAR, DISSEMINAR, DOENÇAS, PANDEMIAS E REDUZIR A SUPER POPULAÇÃO. POBREZA, RIQUEZA, MISÉRIA E ABUNDÂNCIA ESTÃO NAS MINHAS MÃOS. EU DECIDO QUEM É LIVRE E QUEM É ESCRAVO.

    A GUERRA É NECESSÁRIA. SE NÃO HOUVESSE A 1* E 2* " GUERRA MUNDIAL" QUANTOS BILHÕES DE PESSOAS HAVERIA NA TERRA ? QUEREM QUE EU CARREGUE ESSE BANDO DE POBRES NAS COSTAS,. QUANTO MAIS MORREREM MELHOR, MENOS ESCRAVOS PRA ENCHER MINHA PACIÊNCIA. BANDO DE POBRES MALDITOS 😡
    CONTROLE DA NATALIDADE, ERRADICAR O SÍNDROME DE DOWN, LEGALIZAÇÃO DO ABORTO.

    INSTAGRAM SERPA _1984

  13. Oh the desperation to see if money to be made, but not sure how it wasn't before with majority of Japan being conservative? How is the ban of games and anime of sorts hitting of late?

  14. Some people wanna stop all immigrants come in meanwhile refusing to have kids. Yes it's not right to have uncontrolled immigration and yes it's everyone's freedom to have kids or not, but we gotta think about the bigger picture.
    It just can't go both ways I'm afraid, the native people have to keep the demographic structure healthy or the country would have to take in immigrants.
    I think for governments this could also be used as a stimulus to persuade people to raise a family, you either keep the population growing by 1% every year, or we'd bring 1% immigrants.

    In fact Japan doesn't even have immigration problems, there is over-tourism sure, but that issue is like NOTHING compared to what other parts of the world is going through, and also NOTHING compared to Japan's own economic and demographic issue.

  15. hi, Im Jpanamese. I agree with Sanseito. Japanese is NATIVE PEOPLE who live in Japan. Why should we accept foreiner??? I don't want to be like native amerikan or Aboriginal who are robbed everything from foreigner.