Is Japan moving to the right?
The Inquiry
BBC
4.6 • 1.7K Ratings
🗓️ 26 August 2025
⏱️ 23 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
A far-right party which came to prominence during the Covid-19 pandemic recently showed itself to be a contender to Japan’s centrist political establishment, when it grew from one seat, three years ago to 15 seats in the recent elections.
Known as Sanseito, the party is led by Kamiya Sohei, whose YouTube videos spread conspiracy theories about vaccinations. Its political platform is a nationalist ‘Japanese first’ agenda and warns against a ‘silent invasion of foreigners’.
Whilst for Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party coalition, the election results were bruising. The LDP lost its majority in the Upper House, having already lost control of the Lower House last year. But its embattled Prime Minister, Shigeru Ishiba, whilst facing calls from within his party to resign, has said he has no plans to quit.
Against this backdrop, there’s a growing unease amongst Japanese voters over issues like immigration, over-tourism and the economy and Sanseito are tapping into that.
Joining us to discuss Japan's political climate are Kenneth Mori McElwain, professor of Comparative Politics, University of Tokyo, Japan; Dr Fabian Schäfer, chair of Japanese Studies, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany; Jeffrey Hall, author and lecturer, Kanda University of International Studies, Eastern Japan; Dr Kristi Govella, associate professor of Japanese Politics and International Relations, University of Oxford, UK.
Presenter: William Crawley Producer: Jill Collins Researcher: Evie Yabsley Technical producer: Craig Boardman Production management assistant: Liam Morrey Editor: Tara McDermott
Image credit: Reuters via BBC Images
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the inquiry from the BBC World Service. I'm William Crawley. |
| 0:04.7 | Each week, one question, four expert witnesses and an answer. |
| 0:12.9 | For decades, Japan has been seen as stable, centrist and predictable. |
| 0:18.6 | The centre-right Liberal Democratic Party, the LDP, has ruled almost |
| 0:23.4 | continuously for 70 years in coalition with Comito for the past 25. But that grip is weakening. |
| 0:32.5 | In July, the coalition lost its majority in Japan's upper house, just months after losing control |
| 0:39.1 | of the more powerful lower house following a major financial scandal. Still, few predicted |
| 0:45.5 | what would come next. A challenge from the far right. Sanse Tau, a party founded by a |
| 0:52.3 | YouTuber spreading anti-vaccing conspiracies, |
| 0:55.7 | made a stunning leap from the single seat at one in 2022 to 15 seats, |
| 1:02.4 | campaigning under the provocative slogan, Japanese first. |
| 1:06.5 | So this week on the inquiry, we're asking, is Japan moving to the right? |
| 1:14.3 | Part 1. Post-war Japanese democracy. |
| 1:19.8 | To understand the significance of this new political shift in Japan, we need to go back to 1947 |
| 1:25.6 | when it enacted a new constitution under allied occupation, |
| 1:30.7 | primarily led by the United States. This was, in effect, the blueprint for a new kind of country, |
| 1:37.1 | a democratic state that would become a dependable Western ally. Kenneth Moray McElwain is a professor |
| 1:43.5 | of comparative politics at the University of Tokyo. |
| 1:46.1 | But Article 9 of the Constitution, perhaps its most controversial element, writes that |
| 1:51.8 | Japan will not have a military or will possess military potential that would allow it to become a |
| 1:57.0 | threat to its neighbors or to world peace generally. |
| 2:06.5 | And political parties as well as voters have been divided for the next 80 years on whether or not it's smart to be entirely reliant on the U.S. to provide defense. |
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