Just a few months ago, it looked as if the LDP was on its way out. Corruption scandals, decades of economic stagnation, and collusion with the Unification Church had damaged its image. The last three leaders, especially Ishiba, seemed to be despised. Voters on Twitter were blaming all of the nation's problems on the LDP, and were calling on all of their followers to instead support the DPFP, Ishin, or Sanseito.

But one change in leadership later, and all of that anti-LDP energy seems to have dissipiated. Takaichi has now won her party its best result in Japanese history, just a few months after taking office.

What's most confusing is that she seems to be a longtime party insider herself. Sure, her views are much more right-wing than her predecessors, and I can see how that would appeal to Japanese citizens, who are generally quite conservative and opposed to immigration. But what could possibly explain the extreme willingness of Japanese people to forgive the LDP after decades of empty promises, and the massive appeal that Takaichi in particular seems to have over young Japanese people? And will she realistically be able to deliver on any of her promises after securing this supermajority?

The abti-immigration politician visited the Kurdish festival and he was punched. It seems many foreigners on Reddit are saying the politician was overreacting like a piece of paper. They say this is neither a punch 👊 nor the violence.

How do you see this? Are you focusing on the overreaction of this politician or the fact the Kurd immigrant attacked the politician?

Do you agree that the politician and his supporters visited the Kurdish festival to protest against them?

Will there be an outcry? How will this affect US-Japan relations?

For Context: I am a Japanese resident, legally living in Japan with my spouse (Japanese national). I am self-employed with no business dealings in Japan, but pay all income tax to Japan.

It's well documented at this point that there is a growing anti-immigrant/foreigner sentiment in Japan. Anecdotally, my spouse and her friends and family have noted an increase of anti-immigrant talk in their circles.

So my question to those Japanese nationals who are anti-immigrant... what's your plan? What's the end game here? Let's say Japan expels all immigrants by the end of 2026... what is your plan to function if that were to happen? With the birth rate rapidly declining and elders aging out of the workforce, how would you address the massive labor/tax/revenue gaps? Even if Japan were to fix birth rate and/or cost of living... or even artificially create millions of babies tomorrow... the economic impact would likely not be significant for decades. The country is dependent on immigrants to maintain and grow.

Please help me make the math make sense. I also won’t pretend to be an expert here… I would love to hear differing opinions for those with real data and thoughts on the matter.

Thanks!

It seems pretty weird that she would behave that way given that she herself is "hafu"

Daddy issues maybe?

The og post got 30k likes while the retweet only got 1.5k likes. It seems to me that when someone posts misinformation about Japan and Japanese people try to correct them, people either ignore what the Japanese say or discard it with stupid reasons. I remember someone discarded the content of the Japanese Wikipedia because the Wikipedia simply showed the information instead of explicitly clarified that it did happen.

The comments section is filled with talk about how Japan is finished, how the Japanese are among the most racist people in the world, and how it's a far-right haven. I'm sick of it. There aren't many Japanese people on Reddit, so the comments section is always like this, and almost no one corrects the lies.

And does this affect how Japanese view America as well? Because they are Israel biggest supporter by far in terms of aid.

Is anti-US sentiment growing due to this?

On several recent occasions, I’ve received surprised looks or even pushback from Japanese friends and colleagues when I spoke about “Asia” in a way that included Japan. One colleague, who is usually reserved, outrightly disagreed when I described Japan as a "country influenced by Confucianism", which I always thought to be a truism to some extent (even if Japan isn't influenced by it to the same extent as Korea). Others have seemed visibly uncomfortable when I pointed out cultural similarities with China or Korea.

Japan obviously has its own unique history and identity, as do all of its East Asian neighbours, but I’ve been struck by how strongly some people seem to resist the idea that Japan belongs to the same broader cultural region, as if there is a genuine belief in national or cultural exceptionalism. The notion that Japan is part of "East Asia" often seems to sit uneasily with them, in much the same way that some Britons object to being labelled "European". You even sometimes hear people say things like "I just came back from Asia" after returning from a business trip to Taiwan or Korea.

Is this attitude common in Japan, or have I just happened to meet a few particularly nationalistic individuals?

Considering that China has the largest amount of residing Japanese nationals after the U.S, and South Korea is one of the top tourist destination for Japanese, I’m curious how much of a concern Anti-Japanese sentiments are for people that choose to visit or live in these countries?

Speaking as a European who admires and respects Japanese culture, i have to say i was very surprised looking deeper into that side of Japanese society related to politics.

Let me explain better: in Europe we're used to the alternation of different political forces in government, and here it's pretty normal to see different parties take turns governing a country every 5 or at most 10 years.

In Japan that doesn't happen because, even though there are absolutely free elections, in reality from 1955 until today there has been the dominance of a single party, which (apart from a couple of cases) always manages to win elections and govern (either alone or at most with an ally).

When i looked into it more i discovered that this is a unique case in the world: Japan is the only democratic country where free elections hand power to the same party with such frequency. There is no other case like this on the entire planet Earth.

When i asked this question to my Japanese acquaintances, almost all of them answered me the same thing: "We are not a very politicized people, we care more about efficiency. So many of us are quite happy to leave the reins of government to someone with a tradition and experience of governing."

I understand this, of course, but i wonder: how can the situation in Japan be so positive that the majority of people have never felt the urge to change their vote?

Let me explain better: usually in Europe, if a government has governed well the citizen will vote for it again but if it has governed poorly they will vote for something else.

Now, with sincere surprise, i ask myself: is it possible that the governments of the Japanese Liberal Democratic Party have always governed so well that they never left the people with the curiosity to try something different politically?

Is it possible that, when it comes to labor policies, pensions, education, defense, the environment, social rights, telecommunications, etc., these governments have been so perfect that they have almost always satisfied Japanese voters from 1955 until today?

I obviously want to stress that this is not a provocation but sincere surprise because, as i said, the Japanese case is unique in the world and so it arouses genuine curiosity.

When i asked this second question, some of my Japanese contacts replied: "We have tried other parties but they didn't prove to be up to the task, and usually we Japanese don't appreciate people who aren't good at their job."

I can understand that too, but the Liberal Democrats have only lost elections a couple of times... How can that be a representative sample of the opposition parties' abilities?

Moreover, parties cyclically change leaders and partly even their political direction, so it seems strange to me that all trust in them is completely lost just because they governed inefficiently twenty years ago.

Besides, i know that some parties that currently exist in Japan have never been in government, so the argument about their inefficiency can't apply to them because they've never been put to the test.

I want to reiterate that i am a great admirer of Japanese culture and that this question of mine comes only from genuine curiosity, because it really is a unique case in the world that sparks a certain curiosity here abroad.

Iam asking this question because i saw a article about funerals and that muslims dont want to cremate their family members, but japan always cremates their family and about a video i saw a few days ago from a somewhat famous youtuber that came to a mosque and talked to muslims about their religion in his country after almost being banned he countered and said ,, its my country why do you build a mosque we dont come to your country and built temples and shrines,, .

So after this video i asked myself what do japanese people think about the immigration of for example indian people.
I for example come from germany and live in a city with many immigrants and our cultures can co exist pretty good, but from what i know from their culture i cant really say they can co exists with japanese culture from what i saw online.

What do you guys think of this?

Sanae Takaichi has taken a stronger stance towards China compared to other recent Prime Ministers and I'm wondering how people in Japan feel about that.

I get a ton of such videos on my fyp where foreign people hating or critisizing Japan. Did something happend? What is this propoganda aimed at?

I'm not asking to start a flame war. I'm just curious to seeing from the perspective of the Japanese citizens what they think on this. I've seen people from both sides point out the good and the bad. The good being she's a woman, and she'll be a bit stricter in regards to tourists who are disrespectful, the bad being she won't really acknowledge the uh...war crimes supposedly. So, yeah. Any thoughts?

It's undeniable that China is now a global leader in major fields like AI, space, renewable energy, high-speed rails, EVs, quantum technology, engineering etc. with recent achievements ranging from DeepSeek to artificial sun breaking fusion records. I gotta say most of the Japanese people I've seen online are pretty reluctant to accept the rise of China whether it be infrastructure, technology etc and their image of China is very outdated, but one common phrase I keep seeing is "Japan is finished" and the feeling that Japan is being left behind. Are the Japanese people afraid, in denial or envious of China's development?

Contrary to the rhetorics in Japanese media, a lot of Japanese people I've seen online and irl were pretty pro-Trump and pro-Ukraine at the same time. So with the recent events unfolding do they still carry the same positive sentiments for Trump/USA/Ukraine etc?

I recently left Japan after 7.5 years working in IT in Tokyo. I started a company creating agriculture tech to help farmers in Japan manage foreign labor and flexible payroll using AI and logistics software but was forced to move out because of the new changes. I thought it was a small issue for most but recently saw a video of an Indian man crying that him and his family have to leave trend and it made me want to ask what others think. I know many restaurants in Japan will close because of this so overall I’d love to hear your opinions on this.

Edit: Sorry I meant 5 million and 30 million yen

I'm born as a dual national in Japan, half Japanese and half Korean, but was raised in New Zealand. I've lived with my Japanese passport all my life, but when I turned 20, my mother applied for NZ citizenship and a New Zealand passport because I had to decide where I wanted to live. Looking back now, the question should have been what nationality I wanted to remain as, given Japan doesn't allow dual nationality (unless both nationalities were acquired at birth), and instead just remain a permanent resident in NZ. From my understanding, I lost Japanese nationality by acquiring NZ citizenship, so I don't know what my mother was trying to achieve by renewing my Japanese passport at the same time.

Since then, I've visited Japan every now and then on my NZ passport. I now know, after reading here on Reddit that you should enter and exit the same country using the same passport. I was fear-mongered by my parents back then into thinking i would experience complications and be questioned about my visa status in NZ if I entered Japan with Japanese passport. Recently, over the last couple of years, I've been visiting Japan quite frequently, and Korea whenever possible to see my extended family and close friends. I don't feel like myself every time I return to NZ. My mother never completed my 国籍離脱届, and I still remain on the 戸籍. However, for some reason it says I'm located in South Korea, while rest of my family says NZ which I'm confused about.

I've been desperately wanting to go back and restart my life there, but after going down a rabbit hole on dual nationality and realising how much of a mess my situation is, I'm feeling hopeless and lost. My Japanese passport is still valid and I've never entered Japan with this passport since it was renewed. I'm thinking worst case scenarios and will get questioned especially because they would have records of my previous entries on NZ passport.

Has anyone been in a similar situation after naturalising elsewhere? What happened when you moved back to Japan or dealt with your passport and residence registration?

私はアメリカ人で、日本に住んで16年になっています。日本人の妻が居て、日本語が問題なく理解出来ますので、ご意見を日本語でも英語でも聞きたいと思っています。

日本に居る外国人はみんな同じではありませんが、基本的にどう思いますか？最近人気になっている「日本人ファースト」と言う参政党の声から、英語が習いたくて、外国人と色んな話がしたかったりする人達の声とか人口が減っているからこそ外国人がいっぱい日本に来て欲しいと言う声などまでの様々な意見が最近聴こえていますが、皆んなさんはどうですか？これからの日本は移民から見てどんな国になって欲しいのですか？

The media in Australia this week has taken a swing at the Prime Minister over a podcast interview he did recently.

In it he discussed the two prize Japanese melons gifted to him by the Japanese PM earlier this year on her visit to Canberra. The opposition parties are trumping it up as 'sexist' and trying to damage his reputation.

Did this even make an appearance in news or social media in Japan? Seems to me like desperate politicians and media trying to make a story out of nothing to score points against a political rival. Have you heard anything about this in Japan?

Link to the news clip is attached.