Snap judgement: Japan PM’s electoral landslide
Economist Podcasts
The Economist
4.3 • 5K Ratings
🗓️ 9 February 2026
⏱️ 23 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Takaichi Sanae’s gamble to call a general election has paid off. How will the prime minister’s thumping victory change Japan? New legislation in Republican states could imperil academic freedom. And why “Taxi Driver” resonates 50 years after the film’s release.
Guests and host:
- Rosie Blau, host of “The Intelligence”
- Noah Sneider, East Asia bureau chief
- Rebecca Jackson, Southern correspondent
- Andrew Miller, author of The Economist’s Back Story column on culture
Topics covered:
- Japan’s election
- University censorship in America
- Fifty years of “Taxi Driver”
For more on Japan’s economy, listen to last week’s episode of Money Talks
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The Economist. |
| 0:10.3 | Hello and welcome to the intelligence from The Economist. |
| 0:14.1 | I'm your host, Rosie Bloor. |
| 0:16.1 | Every weekday, we provide a fresh perspective on the events shaping your world. |
| 0:24.9 | Thank you. day, we provide a fresh perspective on the events shaping your world. In the past decade, American universities have become a hunting ground for almost every phase |
| 0:30.5 | of the culture wars. Today, free speech and why Republican states seem to have a problem |
| 0:35.9 | with Plato. |
| 0:43.9 | And 50 years ago, taxi driver brought us a mouldering New York and a misfit who raged against the society he couldn't find a way into. |
| 0:48.4 | No wonder, says our correspondent, that the film still feels so relevant. |
| 1:06.0 | Yeah. that the film still feels so relevant. First up, though... |
| 1:07.0 | This weekend, Japanese voters braved record-breaking snowfall to head to the polls. |
| 1:15.6 | There, they delivered a record-breaking victory for Prime Minister Takayev Sanaya, who called this |
| 1:28.5 | snap election just weeks ago. |
| 1:31.9 | Noah Snyder is our East Asia Bureau Chief. |
| 1:35.1 | It was a high-stakes political gamble, and it is paid off big time. |
| 1:39.4 | The result is set to reshape Japanese politics for years to come. |
| 1:45.6 | Noah, it was a political gamble. |
| 1:47.3 | It paid off just how significant is this victory for Takayichi and her party? |
| 1:53.0 | It's a really historic victory, Rosie. |
| 1:56.0 | It's hard to overstate. |
| 1:57.8 | The ruling Liberal Democratic Party, which Prime Minister Takaichi heads, has basically |
| 2:02.6 | dominated Japanese politics since 1955, ruling with only two brief interruptions. And this is the |
... |
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