If much of the democratic world is witnessing a splintering of established politics as the global order undergoes upheaval, Japan didn’t appear to get the memo.
A stunning vote of confidence for Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi in yesterday’s national election positions her as one of the most popular leaders among major economies. It also serves as a strong message of support for Tokyo’s alliance with the US under Donald Trump.
It’s hard to overstate the scale of Takaichi’s electoral success. Her Liberal Democratic Party won so many proportional representation seats in parliament that it ran out of candidates to fill them. The margin of victory was the biggest for any party since World War II.
The shifting global trends laid out most eloquently by Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney last month were part of the reason, even if the conclusions for Tokyo are different.
Japan isn’t oblivious to an ever-growing geopolitical struggle, but its voters opted to double down on ties to Washington by backing a leader who will invest in the relationship and has the credentials to fight Tokyo’s corner.
As one senior Japanese government official put it, Canada has the luxury of imagining a world without the US as a security backstop because it doesn’t face any threats. Not so Japan, which has to deal with increasing Chinese military activity on its doorstep and possible war over Taiwan.
Trump congratulated Takaichi on her landslide win, posting on his Truth Social platform that he will always lend his support to “the wonderful people of Japan.”
Trump’s planned April meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping is a potential flashpoint for Tokyo. But Takaichi has a chance to get ahead of it with her own Trump summit on March 19.
She’ll go into it with the confidence of becoming Japan’s most popular prime minister in decades. — Alastair Gale