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.”

The success of new political parties focused on wages, immigration and an unresponsive political elite highlights the frustrations of many working-age people in Japan.

Ishiba's ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its junior coalition partner Komeito were short three seats to maintain a majority in the 248-seat upper house in Sunday's vote.

Koeda Yoshiyuki, a 51-year-old supporter, called Sanseito “the only party that can truly tackle the big problems Japan faces today”. Sanseito relied on social media, especially YouTube, to reach voters disheartened with politics-as-usual.

In a significant political shift, Prime Minister Ishiba's coalition lost its majority in Japan's upper house, marking the first such loss for the LDP since 1955. The far-right Sanseito party gained traction with anti-immigrant rhetoric,

Exit polls suggest Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's coalition is likely to lose a majority its majority in the smaller of Japan’s two parliamentary houses in a key election.

The opposition party Sanseito made a strong showing in the July 20 House of Councillors election in both constituency and proportional repres･･･

TOKYO -- The gains made by the right-wing Sanseito party in Japan's upper house election Sunday show that the mounting worldwide wave of citizens-first, anti-globalist sentiment has come to Japan. This trend has in recent years fueled the rise of anti ...