Internal rivals and a resurgent nationalist right are jeopardising Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's already precarious position With his grasp on power slipping, Japan's Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has vowed to remain in office despite a stinging electoral rebuke that plunged his ruling coalition into fresh turmoil.

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 small rightwing populist party led by firebrand Sohei Kamiya won 14 seats in Sunday’s Upper House election.

Birthed on YouTube spreading Covid-19 conspiracy theories, the party broke into mainstream politics with its populist campaign.

Sanseito, a Japanese populist party that draws inspiration from Donald Trump's politics, is gaining support ahead of Sunday's upper house elections, suggesting a notable shift in the country's traditionally centrist landscape.

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,

The success of Japanese right-wing party Sanseito in Sunday’s upper house election has the potential to unnerve global investors, who have been among the strongest supporters of the nation’s equity markets.

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.

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.

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