Takaichi endorsed “Hitler’s Election Strategy” in the ‘90s, threatened TV networks as communications minister, claims foreigners abuse Nara’s deer without evidence and speaks to the Gods #InsaneSanae
I have a fair number of Japanese colleagues and friends with whom I talk politics.
This article mixes facts with exaggerations and satire, but several key claims are misleading or inaccurate. A few clarifications:
“Hitler’s Election Strategy” – It is true Takaichi appeared once in an advertisement for the book in the 1990s, but she neither endorsed nor supervised it. She has stated it was a one-off photo shoot and that she never approved the content. Suggesting she actively supported Hitler’s strategy is not factually correct.
Media control – In 2016, as communications minister, she cited an existing legal clause on political neutrality of broadcasters, but no network was ever shut down or lost its license. Japanese media continue to criticize the government openly. The claim that she “turned NHK into Abe TV” is rhetoric, not a proven fact.
Nara deer incident – She did say foreigners mistreated deer, but Nara Park officials clarified they had no evidence of this being routine. It should also be noted that the Japanese police provide guidance in foreign languages to visitors, instructing them not to harm the deer. This shows that the concern arises from actual incidents where deer were mistreated, not purely fabricated claims.
Yasukuni visits – She frames her visits as paying respect to the war dead, not glorifying war criminals. While the practice is controversial, equating it directly with “historical denial” overstates the case. Yasukuni Shrine functions much like Arlington National Cemetery in the United States—a place to honor fallen soldiers. That visits to Yasukuni are treated as an international political issue is itself questionable, as similar acts of remembrance in other countries rarely attract such criticism.
Economic policy – Abenomics had mixed results. While wage growth was slow, unemployment fell and job openings increased. It is incorrect to call the policy a total failure or to dismiss her as “economically illiterate.”
Sanseito alliance – There is no factual evidence that Takaichi has formally allied with Sanseito. As a mainstream LDP figure, she does not rely on such fringe groups.
Democracy in Japan – Despite criticisms, Japan remains ranked as a “full democracy” (EIU Democracy Index 2023, #16 globally). Media freedom has indeed slipped, but largely due to structural and self-censorship issues, not direct government censorship.
In short, the article blends fact with opinion and stretches conclusions beyond what evidence supports. Criticism is fair, but accuracy matters.
I would respectfully suggest that the author conduct deeper research and base the article on verifiable facts rather than exaggerated comparisons. Publishing misleading claims only fuels unnecessary fear among international readers who may not know Japan’s political contexts well.
When I saw one of the expats in my feed refer to this election as "time to find out if the LDP hates women or foreigners more", I didn't really have context for why, and now I do. Thanks for that.
Japan is following all of our own steps, but because it's all happening in comparative slow motion, it doesn't have the same kind of snap back being seen in the US with active constant (and under-reported) protest. I figure the reason the old boys club chose her is the same as Liz Truss - picked a woman to handle what they know is going to be a catastrophe, so may as well distract the feminist cadre by jangling keys in front of their face. I have low expectations, but I can only hope that the slow motion decay becoming fully evident can make even a tenth of the spark that the Anpo movement had all those years ago. History doesn't often repeat exactly, but it does have the same tune...
I knew she wasn't the best choice. I didn't know she was closer to the worst. My (Japanese) wife fills me in on most things, and when I asked her about Takaichi, she said, "I don't hate her. But I don't like her, either." That's Japanese for problematic. Just learned a lot more. Thanks, Jake.
Very disappointed that Japan chose Takaichi was the new LDP party leader who will likely become PM. I expect Trump will be the first foreign leader lined up to meet her. She will gain support from Sanseito “Japanese first” policy copied from Trump:((
I stumbled over this article when I've tried to understand my wifes increasing leanings towards historical revisionistic views. And the more I read, the more worried I get. It's like truth has been slaughtered through cheap emotional appeal.
I thought I could blame the confirmation bias of Japanese social media, but it has become increasingly clear that the japanese medias ability and willingness to analyse and offer critical questions has been left in the gutter.
Yes, I’m afraid that the mainstream media has become complacent and social media really pushes forward a right-wing and extremist narrative. And the LDP has hired advertising agencies who do just that. Sanseito learned from them. However, you can blame Sanae for her role in crushing the TV networks as Minister of Communications. She was Brendan Carr before Brendan Carr.
I don’t think the hyperbole of calling these authoritarian clowns literal Nazis is helpful. Yes Kristi Noem is a power tripping fool who has no respect for the rule of law and who shoots dogs, but saying that she is a Nazi makes people who know the history of the Holocaust stop listening to whatever you say. Noem is more Cosplay Barbie with Botox and an AR15 than Klaus Barbie.
Likewise Sanae Takaichi claiming that some people are kicking deer in Nara is just populist anti-immigrant nonsense. If you imply that foreigners will soon be rounded up in camps then that doesn’t bring clarity to what is happening and adds to popular support for their actual bad policies.
I oppose Trump because he is an ignorant foolish narcissist with a huge amount of bad ideas and no respect for norms, but he isn’t literally Hitler.
Mr. Adelstein, can you explain why the average Japanese citizen likes Takaichi and thinks she is going to be the one who turns things around? They talk about Koizumi’s lack of experience like as if it would have been a disaster, but some commenters on YouTube and Reddit act like she’s the best thing for Japan. Is the average citizen really that fearful or hateful of foreigners? Does a desire for a better economy blind a person to all other issues? And since it seems a lot of people only support the far-right because of the economy, would Takaichi actually improve things? Personally, I’m hoping the downward spiral of the LDP will lead to her own downfall, but given how Trump gets away with everything, I’m doubtful she’ll ever face consequences for anything wrong that she does.
Japan didn’t “elect” Takaichi—the LDP did. The general public had no say; it was decided by a small group of party insiders who’ve spent decades keeping power in the same old boys’ club. They’re conservative, risk-averse, and terrified of change.
Many Japanese want someone to “turn things around,” and Takaichi sells that illusion—national pride as economic policy. But she’s part of the same machine that broke the country. Her rise isn’t progress; it’s nostalgia weaponized. Japan’s first female PM is just Abe 2.0 in a different suit.
I don’t know. Look at how millions of regular people voted for Trump the second time as well as how Sanseito got a dozen seats. I think my trust in people has been broken in the last year. Sure, the LDP’s been taking hits since Shinzo Abe’s assassination, but even if the public finally grows tired of them, whose to say Sanseito isn’t just going to swoop in part of a coalition? Sure seems like the DPFP and Nippon Ishin would rather work with Sanseito and the CPJ than with the CDP. And the public can sure feel like sheep rather than folks who can decide their own future, especially when experts and folks like you constantly scream about the danger and nobody listens.
John—first of all let’s get a few things straight.
🗳️ Who actually votes?
First, let’s clear up a basic misconception: the public doesn’t vote for the prime minister — the LDP does. The Japanese public elects members of parliament, but when it comes to choosing the head of the ruling party (and thus the PM), it’s an internal LDP affair.
That means the people who just picked Takaichi aren’t ordinary voters — they’re mostly career politicians, party officials, and dues-paying LDP members, a crowd that’s overwhelmingly conservative, risk-averse, and nostalgic for some golden age that never really existed.
So, when people say “Japan elected its first female prime minister,” that’s technically true, but politically misleading. Japan’s most conservative political machine elected her — not the average citizen on the street.
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💰 Why do ordinary Japanese seem to like her?
A lot of people outside Japan — and even some inside — are surprised to see how many comments online treat Takaichi like a savior. But what you’re seeing is the same phenomenon that got Trump elected, or kept Abe in power for so long: fear and fatigue.
Japan’s economy has been stagnant for decades. Wages haven’t gone up, prices are rising, and everyone’s working harder for less. People are scared — not of foreigners per se, but of change. They want stability, certainty, someone who looks like they have a plan, even if the plan is just nationalism with lipstick.
Takaichi sells a fantasy — that Japan can turn back the clock to when it was rich, unified, and respected. And for a lot of older voters, that fantasy is comforting.
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😨 Is Japan really that xenophobic?
I wouldn’t say most Japanese people are hateful toward foreigners. But there is a powerful undercurrent of xenophobia and isolationism, and politicians like Takaichi know exactly how to tap it without saying the quiet part out loud.
There’s a fear that Japan will lose its “Japaneseness” — that letting in too many outsiders or ideas will dilute the culture. It’s not open racism in the American sense; it’s more like cultural protectionism, dressed up as patriotism.
And when people are desperate for an economic miracle, they’re often willing to overlook — or even embrace — the uglier parts of that message.
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📉 Will she actually make things better?
Economically? Probably not.
Politically? Even less likely.
The LDP has been recycling the same policies for decades: corporate welfare, pork-barrel spending, and “Abenomics” with a fresh coat of paint. Takaichi might tinker with the edges, but the structure that’s been rotting Japan from the inside — the bureaucratic cronyism, the lack of accountability, the old-boys’ networks — that’s not changing under her watch.
She talks about “reviving Japan,” but she’s part of the same system that hollowed it out.
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⚖️ Will she face consequences if she screws up?
Unlikely. Not unless she drags the LDP’s approval rating so far down that even her own party turns on her.
The Japanese political system doesn’t have much in the way of accountability for leaders who fail — Abe’s administration proved that. You can lie, shred documents, and mislead the public, and as long as your faction stays loyal, you survive.
It’s the same logic that kept Trump afloat: power protects itself.
So yes — Takaichi might fall, but only if the LDP itself collapses under her. And given their history, that’s a long shot.
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🧩 The bottom line
Takaichi’s rise isn’t about progress or feminism or national renewal. It’s about a tired, aging political party clinging to power by promising a return to a Japan that no longer exists.
She’s not the antidote to Japan’s problems — she’s a symptom.
The runoff vote was 149 (Diet members) + 36 (Prefectural chapters) for Takaichi and 145 (Diet members) + 11 (Prefectural chapters) for Koizumi. It looks like the Diet members were pretty close to 50/50. I'd love to find out how they weighted the member votes (about a million) to the prefectures and what the breakdown of the prefectural vote was, especially as that was what got her elected.
Okay, do you ever consider that an idea that sounds sensible on paper could turn out very different? The type of laws you want aren’t usually written to differentiate between the innocent and the guilty. Look at how ICE detains both immigrants who haven’t committed any crimes as well as US citizens. You really think that the loudest voices on this foreigner issue aren’t going to try and change the narrative from just going after bad foreigners to just foreigners in general? Think about the way you described the immigrants in Europe. You make it sound like most who don’t go through a system are malicious and want to cause trouble. Doesn’t that sound like the first step towards dehumanizing people, just assuming that they’re trouble.
First off, most immigrants in Japan come from neighboring Asian countries like China and South Korea, not Africa and the Middle East. Secondly, people fleeing from war-torn, crime-ridden, and corrupt nations would be refugees. If you lived in such a nation, wouldn’t you want to get away as quickly as possible? By your logic we should be cold to people just because they come from a bad place even though it’s most likely they’re running from bad things being done to them. And finally, if you actually believe 500,000 Indians are coming to Japan, you’ve fallen for misinformation. The trade isn’t 500,000 Indians for 500,000 Japanese, it’s just 500,000 people in total between the two nations. And of that number, only 50,000 Indians are going to be staying in Japan. And before you go thinking these guys are going to be stealing jobs, Japan’s labor shortage is primarily caused by the birth rate crisis. There’s also more than enough data from various countries pointing out that immigrants don’t affect crime rates. Immigrants are just people living their lives just like you, me, and the Japanese.
John, the entire foreign population here is less than 3%. Statistically, they are better behaved in the average Japanese person. If you want to argue in generalities and cherry picked stories, go ahead. But the Trumpian narrative doesn’t apply here. Please go argue with somewhere else.
John your argument centers around extreme faulty generalities as a fallacious argument tactic. The push back against Takaichi is that her views like yours are not rooted in actual reality and are used to justify blatant xenophobia. It’s the same argument regurgitated by xenophobes globally.
Melodrama and generalization meant to detract from xenophobia. #1 Massive droves of these people are not entering Japan #2 Most Islamic people are actually good people if you get to know them much like most people anywhere.
Paralleling Islamic culture which is vastly diverse in its beliefs much like Christian or Judaic culture to the belief system of the Ku Klux Klan is a false equivalency. Cherry picking passages from the Quran and attributing it as a core belief for all Muslims is misattribution and a rationalization defense mechanism because you yourself do not want to have to face the error and vacant ethics in your logical processes. Turning this discourse to focus on your view of Muslims is a red herring argument.
Your thought processes seem scattered and I’ll go from here and hope you reassess them.
Can I comment here without having paid? Seems I can. My point is that she said she wants to continue the current coalition. Saito however said he wants to ask her about Yasukuni, the LDP money scandal and coexistence with foreigners. This may be interesting. Could it be that rather than joining with Sanseito etc., she wants to take back those voters into the LDP.
Seems I can. My point is that she said she wants to continue the current coalition. Saito however said he wants to ask her about Yasukuni, the LDP money scandal and coexistence with foreigners. This may be interesting. Could it be that rather than joining with Sanseito etc., she wants to take back those voters into the LDP.
I think that’s unlikely. By the way her now infamous stump speech that “Foreigners are attacking deer” and “There is a shortage of translators so prosecutors are setting foreign criminals free” was ghost-written by Tomohiko Taniguchi, the speech writer of deceased Abe Shinzo.
Wow! It's quite amazing to have access to where the comments came from. That comment about translators needs some follow up. Are there any actual figures? Maybe they aren't paying enough! Which part is unlikely? Someone on CH 8 tonight said Sanseito's ideas on the economy aren't in synch with her.
Very happy to see all the commenters defending the Japanese peoples rights to a homeland and borders. Compassion in the face of globalist division and fearmongering. I avoid any political commentary on this platform, but it would be wrong to not reject this cruel and ill intentioned article. The Japanese people are not ‘terrified of change’, they simply recognise what would be a destructive course set out by international actors who are hostile to Japan.
A much needed post, Jake, and hopefully the more progressive weeklies will translate it and get it out here. As I may have mentioned I majored in journalism undergrad at UA, Tucson, and for every piece of writing we'd get two grades: one for writing, the other for reporting. And this, Jake, warrants that special double AA. You write like an angel! Keep humping that glorious muse!!!
Like patriotic Americans say about Trump: "Please God, give us the Trump that The Left believes he is". This long-time resident of Japan feels the same about Takaichi: "Please God, give us the Takaichi that Jake Adelstein thinks she is.
Right-wing populism is on the rise everywhere unfortunately. Koizumi would have been a better choice for PM, though I’ll say that at least she seems more levelheaded than Trump.
Here's hoping she lasts less than Liz Truss's lettuce (i.e., fewer than 49 days). Alas, mine's a mere wish, not a prediction. How Takaichi can two-step round "deepening" alliances with South Korea, The Philippines and Australia while celebrating all those Ancestral Warriors who Did What They Did in those countries and to those countries' citizens, will be something weird -- and assuredly gruesome -- to behold.
So I do not know too much about Japanese politics, but one thing I do know is that for nearly the entirety of the Post-War period the Liberal Democratic Party has been in power. Were there any concerns before of a lack of civil engagement in the country, or questioning if modern Japan is a democracy? Although there has not been outright massacres instigated by the government of Japan in the Post-War period like in Mexico, outside commentators of Mexican politics had labelled the PRI (Institutional Revolutionary Party) - political party that also dominated a single country for decades - as merely a camouflaged dictatorship. I am just curious how the party has been so successful in maintaining power, unless there were some other leverage that they have been able to use. If this was clarified it would clarify to a layperson how big of a shift this woman becoming Prime Minister is for the future of Japan.
I dropped a comment below but just read through the entire feed and found most of it quite edifying and logically presented. My own two yen: Japan has the highest uncertainty avoidance ranking of any country in the world (google it), and part of that is due to a passel of natural disasters. The other is from the kataization (my neologism) of the culture as in one way of doing things most times. When I first visited on my way home through Africa (PC volunteer: Gabon 1981-83) then Asia, ending Asia which our host country nationals are shucks not a part of (t)here with several nights spent at a Tokyo gaijin house where the lines ran long to use the damned single pay phone in response to clipped ads for a teaching job before we were all hustled out at 10 a.m., door bolted. But more widely then the foreigner was treated as an honored guest as kata dictated, and the stories shared in 1983 between foreigners then were rich with this or that Japanese driving hours out of their way to deliver a foreigner to their destination, and in my case and many other gaijin peeps peeping in, invited out to almost anywhere, foremost pour moi hostess bars with hostesses cuddling up and pouring (not stirred or fricking shaken as they were from bottle kept whiskey for mizuwari/high ball? drinks while tickling cajones). Then in the end no matter how hard I tried to push some money on my regular customer who insisted on throwing for everything, with sheaves of those notes with the image of the founder of Keio (even though I taught there, I hit Route 66 last year and words go missing ... like my kids!!!). Yes, we need some levity as Jake layers it in with his witticisms and I'm jamming on that vibe, the way I roll. Anyway, foreigners from way back Meiji who left many things beautiful, as in Yamate-cho where I once lived, were put so high on a pedestal only to be put out of reach, if I may borrow the latter phrase from a writer in the anthology The Broken Bridge (ed. the prolific and talented writer Suzanne Kamata, Intro by Donald Richie; Stone Bridge Press; 1997 ). But now the kataization has us as being seen largely as sawdust in the gears, as in there's no more fricking kata as being put on that pedestal because there are too many of us to fit there AND less and less of "them" which is a word I best change to host country nationals a la Peace Corps cross-cultural sensitivity. And let me drop in my insight that something that doesn't change is dead as, alas, on the population count, the country (fertility rate of 1.2 may be generous), so it's a race between the robotic and gaijin as in the latter needing a paycheck. And on that note, the other night, the first in a long time as being warned against it in emails from the American Embassy with Roppongi thrown in there, hit the mutli-culturalized Kabuki-cho early so as to avoid drunks and more aggressive touts but I right off got a buzz from the energy there, a multicultural free-for-all if you will, and on that note enjoyed some Earl Gray, a brand of tea hard to find. The registers at the conbinis were largely run by Nepalese and some Indians. I loved the flaneur for its spontaneity and how easy and wonderful it was to connect with folks from worldwide as in burning, e.g., with the energy of Phuket, Luang Prabang, Saigon (as natives from Ho Chi Minh call it) and even Berau -- way up Borneo way in a settlement on the lakelike confluence on whose shores Joseph Conrad landed four or five times as a merchant marine aboard the Vidar out of Singapore. There he set his first four novels, the Malaya quartet, penned with scant knowledge of the local culture since he didn't have an ear for shore talk since he only spent a total of two weeks there, as Conrad scholar the late Norman Sherry wrote. His narrative focus was on, in Conrad's first novel Almayer's Folly, one Dutch merchant Almayer (Olmeijer, who rests in peace in Surabaya). But what I'm jamming toward here is areas of Tokyo are sparklers and roman candles comparable, well, almost, to the aforementioned ones I was paid by ANA to travel to as a journalist, mostly with one specific German photographer and how we rocked it into the night! So back to the uncertainty thing, I find it most hard hitting at the fricking regis even while spicing my order with a sumimasen or two, then hit with heatwaves from the friction which puts the whole mugamushu thing to hell a la sawdust in the gears what with a whole lot of confusion as in the cashier at Mac not getting it, my order, 'cause under pressure to speak in a tongue AND kata not her own, so what do I do but rear up and boom my voice a bit (of course, in Nihongo) so as the next cashier, not under the gun, gets it and passes it back ... across the counter. Curious. In the upper middle of Borneo's east coast, most cashiers and some servers spoke in English! Indonesia, by the way, has the highest giving ranking in the world (google smoogle it). Kata this kata that but damnit all how to kataize dealing ... with the tengu (joke!) coming in on black ships a la Captain Perry cracking open Japan who tried to intimidate them with f.a. sumo wrestlers. But now they/we/y'all come by plane and some of them/us/we overstay their visas, but in study after study disproved that in this or that area crime is higher because more ... oni/tengu/gaijin/foreign peeps are there just doesn't pan out in the statistics. Now ending this riff, which will probably be chopped because over letter count, I am bowing into the kata of expression of gratitude for my esteemed Japanese helping solve one of life's greatest challenges and that's finding work, meaningful work, and keeping it, which I've done in over three precious decades here in a bifurcated career as in uni teaching and mostly literary scribbling which I had to prioritize sometimes. Going on 4 a.m. and plea you hopefully get off here: ericmadeen[.]com. No obligations, but rather gratitude ...
Hey Jake, I appreciate your reporting. I'm wondering if there are any English-language sources you recommend (other than yourself) for even takes on Japanese politics? Or if you typically read Japanese sources, feel free to recommend those too. Trying to educate myself in preparation for a move back early next year. Disappointed that the politics I was hoping to escape appear to be inescapable.
I have a fair number of Japanese colleagues and friends with whom I talk politics.
This article mixes facts with exaggerations and satire, but several key claims are misleading or inaccurate. A few clarifications:
“Hitler’s Election Strategy” – It is true Takaichi appeared once in an advertisement for the book in the 1990s, but she neither endorsed nor supervised it. She has stated it was a one-off photo shoot and that she never approved the content. Suggesting she actively supported Hitler’s strategy is not factually correct.
Media control – In 2016, as communications minister, she cited an existing legal clause on political neutrality of broadcasters, but no network was ever shut down or lost its license. Japanese media continue to criticize the government openly. The claim that she “turned NHK into Abe TV” is rhetoric, not a proven fact.
Nara deer incident – She did say foreigners mistreated deer, but Nara Park officials clarified they had no evidence of this being routine. It should also be noted that the Japanese police provide guidance in foreign languages to visitors, instructing them not to harm the deer. This shows that the concern arises from actual incidents where deer were mistreated, not purely fabricated claims.
Yasukuni visits – She frames her visits as paying respect to the war dead, not glorifying war criminals. While the practice is controversial, equating it directly with “historical denial” overstates the case. Yasukuni Shrine functions much like Arlington National Cemetery in the United States—a place to honor fallen soldiers. That visits to Yasukuni are treated as an international political issue is itself questionable, as similar acts of remembrance in other countries rarely attract such criticism.
Economic policy – Abenomics had mixed results. While wage growth was slow, unemployment fell and job openings increased. It is incorrect to call the policy a total failure or to dismiss her as “economically illiterate.”
Sanseito alliance – There is no factual evidence that Takaichi has formally allied with Sanseito. As a mainstream LDP figure, she does not rely on such fringe groups.
Democracy in Japan – Despite criticisms, Japan remains ranked as a “full democracy” (EIU Democracy Index 2023, #16 globally). Media freedom has indeed slipped, but largely due to structural and self-censorship issues, not direct government censorship.
In short, the article blends fact with opinion and stretches conclusions beyond what evidence supports. Criticism is fair, but accuracy matters.
I would respectfully suggest that the author conduct deeper research and base the article on verifiable facts rather than exaggerated comparisons. Publishing misleading claims only fuels unnecessary fear among international readers who may not know Japan’s political contexts well.
When I saw one of the expats in my feed refer to this election as "time to find out if the LDP hates women or foreigners more", I didn't really have context for why, and now I do. Thanks for that.
Japan is following all of our own steps, but because it's all happening in comparative slow motion, it doesn't have the same kind of snap back being seen in the US with active constant (and under-reported) protest. I figure the reason the old boys club chose her is the same as Liz Truss - picked a woman to handle what they know is going to be a catastrophe, so may as well distract the feminist cadre by jangling keys in front of their face. I have low expectations, but I can only hope that the slow motion decay becoming fully evident can make even a tenth of the spark that the Anpo movement had all those years ago. History doesn't often repeat exactly, but it does have the same tune...
Whoever said that was very witty. Actually, the Liberal Democratic Party is fine with women who are just xenophobic men in a dress.
I knew she wasn't the best choice. I didn't know she was closer to the worst. My (Japanese) wife fills me in on most things, and when I asked her about Takaichi, she said, "I don't hate her. But I don't like her, either." That's Japanese for problematic. Just learned a lot more. Thanks, Jake.
🖖you’re welcome. She’s just a terrible person and an authoritarian Shinto fanatic to boot.
Very disappointed that Japan chose Takaichi was the new LDP party leader who will likely become PM. I expect Trump will be the first foreign leader lined up to meet her. She will gain support from Sanseito “Japanese first” policy copied from Trump:((
I stumbled over this article when I've tried to understand my wifes increasing leanings towards historical revisionistic views. And the more I read, the more worried I get. It's like truth has been slaughtered through cheap emotional appeal.
I thought I could blame the confirmation bias of Japanese social media, but it has become increasingly clear that the japanese medias ability and willingness to analyse and offer critical questions has been left in the gutter.
Yes, I’m afraid that the mainstream media has become complacent and social media really pushes forward a right-wing and extremist narrative. And the LDP has hired advertising agencies who do just that. Sanseito learned from them. However, you can blame Sanae for her role in crushing the TV networks as Minister of Communications. She was Brendan Carr before Brendan Carr.
I don’t think the hyperbole of calling these authoritarian clowns literal Nazis is helpful. Yes Kristi Noem is a power tripping fool who has no respect for the rule of law and who shoots dogs, but saying that she is a Nazi makes people who know the history of the Holocaust stop listening to whatever you say. Noem is more Cosplay Barbie with Botox and an AR15 than Klaus Barbie.
Likewise Sanae Takaichi claiming that some people are kicking deer in Nara is just populist anti-immigrant nonsense. If you imply that foreigners will soon be rounded up in camps then that doesn’t bring clarity to what is happening and adds to popular support for their actual bad policies.
I oppose Trump because he is an ignorant foolish narcissist with a huge amount of bad ideas and no respect for norms, but he isn’t literally Hitler.
For a different perspective on Takaichi you can read this.
https://open.substack.com/pub/japanoptimist/p/takaichi-bubble-banzai
Mr. Adelstein, can you explain why the average Japanese citizen likes Takaichi and thinks she is going to be the one who turns things around? They talk about Koizumi’s lack of experience like as if it would have been a disaster, but some commenters on YouTube and Reddit act like she’s the best thing for Japan. Is the average citizen really that fearful or hateful of foreigners? Does a desire for a better economy blind a person to all other issues? And since it seems a lot of people only support the far-right because of the economy, would Takaichi actually improve things? Personally, I’m hoping the downward spiral of the LDP will lead to her own downfall, but given how Trump gets away with everything, I’m doubtful she’ll ever face consequences for anything wrong that she does.
Japan didn’t “elect” Takaichi—the LDP did. The general public had no say; it was decided by a small group of party insiders who’ve spent decades keeping power in the same old boys’ club. They’re conservative, risk-averse, and terrified of change.
Many Japanese want someone to “turn things around,” and Takaichi sells that illusion—national pride as economic policy. But she’s part of the same machine that broke the country. Her rise isn’t progress; it’s nostalgia weaponized. Japan’s first female PM is just Abe 2.0 in a different suit.
I don’t know. Look at how millions of regular people voted for Trump the second time as well as how Sanseito got a dozen seats. I think my trust in people has been broken in the last year. Sure, the LDP’s been taking hits since Shinzo Abe’s assassination, but even if the public finally grows tired of them, whose to say Sanseito isn’t just going to swoop in part of a coalition? Sure seems like the DPFP and Nippon Ishin would rather work with Sanseito and the CPJ than with the CDP. And the public can sure feel like sheep rather than folks who can decide their own future, especially when experts and folks like you constantly scream about the danger and nobody listens.
John—first of all let’s get a few things straight.
🗳️ Who actually votes?
First, let’s clear up a basic misconception: the public doesn’t vote for the prime minister — the LDP does. The Japanese public elects members of parliament, but when it comes to choosing the head of the ruling party (and thus the PM), it’s an internal LDP affair.
That means the people who just picked Takaichi aren’t ordinary voters — they’re mostly career politicians, party officials, and dues-paying LDP members, a crowd that’s overwhelmingly conservative, risk-averse, and nostalgic for some golden age that never really existed.
So, when people say “Japan elected its first female prime minister,” that’s technically true, but politically misleading. Japan’s most conservative political machine elected her — not the average citizen on the street.
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💰 Why do ordinary Japanese seem to like her?
A lot of people outside Japan — and even some inside — are surprised to see how many comments online treat Takaichi like a savior. But what you’re seeing is the same phenomenon that got Trump elected, or kept Abe in power for so long: fear and fatigue.
Japan’s economy has been stagnant for decades. Wages haven’t gone up, prices are rising, and everyone’s working harder for less. People are scared — not of foreigners per se, but of change. They want stability, certainty, someone who looks like they have a plan, even if the plan is just nationalism with lipstick.
Takaichi sells a fantasy — that Japan can turn back the clock to when it was rich, unified, and respected. And for a lot of older voters, that fantasy is comforting.
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😨 Is Japan really that xenophobic?
I wouldn’t say most Japanese people are hateful toward foreigners. But there is a powerful undercurrent of xenophobia and isolationism, and politicians like Takaichi know exactly how to tap it without saying the quiet part out loud.
There’s a fear that Japan will lose its “Japaneseness” — that letting in too many outsiders or ideas will dilute the culture. It’s not open racism in the American sense; it’s more like cultural protectionism, dressed up as patriotism.
And when people are desperate for an economic miracle, they’re often willing to overlook — or even embrace — the uglier parts of that message.
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📉 Will she actually make things better?
Economically? Probably not.
Politically? Even less likely.
The LDP has been recycling the same policies for decades: corporate welfare, pork-barrel spending, and “Abenomics” with a fresh coat of paint. Takaichi might tinker with the edges, but the structure that’s been rotting Japan from the inside — the bureaucratic cronyism, the lack of accountability, the old-boys’ networks — that’s not changing under her watch.
She talks about “reviving Japan,” but she’s part of the same system that hollowed it out.
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⚖️ Will she face consequences if she screws up?
Unlikely. Not unless she drags the LDP’s approval rating so far down that even her own party turns on her.
The Japanese political system doesn’t have much in the way of accountability for leaders who fail — Abe’s administration proved that. You can lie, shred documents, and mislead the public, and as long as your faction stays loyal, you survive.
It’s the same logic that kept Trump afloat: power protects itself.
So yes — Takaichi might fall, but only if the LDP itself collapses under her. And given their history, that’s a long shot.
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🧩 The bottom line
Takaichi’s rise isn’t about progress or feminism or national renewal. It’s about a tired, aging political party clinging to power by promising a return to a Japan that no longer exists.
She’s not the antidote to Japan’s problems — she’s a symptom.
The runoff vote was 149 (Diet members) + 36 (Prefectural chapters) for Takaichi and 145 (Diet members) + 11 (Prefectural chapters) for Koizumi. It looks like the Diet members were pretty close to 50/50. I'd love to find out how they weighted the member votes (about a million) to the prefectures and what the breakdown of the prefectural vote was, especially as that was what got her elected.
Thanks for sharing that! Great context.
Okay, do you ever consider that an idea that sounds sensible on paper could turn out very different? The type of laws you want aren’t usually written to differentiate between the innocent and the guilty. Look at how ICE detains both immigrants who haven’t committed any crimes as well as US citizens. You really think that the loudest voices on this foreigner issue aren’t going to try and change the narrative from just going after bad foreigners to just foreigners in general? Think about the way you described the immigrants in Europe. You make it sound like most who don’t go through a system are malicious and want to cause trouble. Doesn’t that sound like the first step towards dehumanizing people, just assuming that they’re trouble.
First off, most immigrants in Japan come from neighboring Asian countries like China and South Korea, not Africa and the Middle East. Secondly, people fleeing from war-torn, crime-ridden, and corrupt nations would be refugees. If you lived in such a nation, wouldn’t you want to get away as quickly as possible? By your logic we should be cold to people just because they come from a bad place even though it’s most likely they’re running from bad things being done to them. And finally, if you actually believe 500,000 Indians are coming to Japan, you’ve fallen for misinformation. The trade isn’t 500,000 Indians for 500,000 Japanese, it’s just 500,000 people in total between the two nations. And of that number, only 50,000 Indians are going to be staying in Japan. And before you go thinking these guys are going to be stealing jobs, Japan’s labor shortage is primarily caused by the birth rate crisis. There’s also more than enough data from various countries pointing out that immigrants don’t affect crime rates. Immigrants are just people living their lives just like you, me, and the Japanese.
John, the entire foreign population here is less than 3%. Statistically, they are better behaved in the average Japanese person. If you want to argue in generalities and cherry picked stories, go ahead. But the Trumpian narrative doesn’t apply here. Please go argue with somewhere else.
John your argument centers around extreme faulty generalities as a fallacious argument tactic. The push back against Takaichi is that her views like yours are not rooted in actual reality and are used to justify blatant xenophobia. It’s the same argument regurgitated by xenophobes globally.
Melodrama and generalization meant to detract from xenophobia. #1 Massive droves of these people are not entering Japan #2 Most Islamic people are actually good people if you get to know them much like most people anywhere.
Paralleling Islamic culture which is vastly diverse in its beliefs much like Christian or Judaic culture to the belief system of the Ku Klux Klan is a false equivalency. Cherry picking passages from the Quran and attributing it as a core belief for all Muslims is misattribution and a rationalization defense mechanism because you yourself do not want to have to face the error and vacant ethics in your logical processes. Turning this discourse to focus on your view of Muslims is a red herring argument.
Your thought processes seem scattered and I’ll go from here and hope you reassess them.
Thank you for your colorful and alarming description of Japan's likely next prime minister.
How capable do you think the opposition parties besides Sanseito are of standing up to her?
She's going to merge with Sanseito. It's going to be a disaster.
Interesting. That doesn't sound good.
Pack your bags Mark (intended sarcasm in case it didn't come off in text form).
Can I comment here without having paid? Seems I can. My point is that she said she wants to continue the current coalition. Saito however said he wants to ask her about Yasukuni, the LDP money scandal and coexistence with foreigners. This may be interesting. Could it be that rather than joining with Sanseito etc., she wants to take back those voters into the LDP.
Seems I can. My point is that she said she wants to continue the current coalition. Saito however said he wants to ask her about Yasukuni, the LDP money scandal and coexistence with foreigners. This may be interesting. Could it be that rather than joining with Sanseito etc., she wants to take back those voters into the LDP.
I think that’s unlikely. By the way her now infamous stump speech that “Foreigners are attacking deer” and “There is a shortage of translators so prosecutors are setting foreign criminals free” was ghost-written by Tomohiko Taniguchi, the speech writer of deceased Abe Shinzo.
Wow! It's quite amazing to have access to where the comments came from. That comment about translators needs some follow up. Are there any actual figures? Maybe they aren't paying enough! Which part is unlikely? Someone on CH 8 tonight said Sanseito's ideas on the economy aren't in synch with her.
Very happy to see all the commenters defending the Japanese peoples rights to a homeland and borders. Compassion in the face of globalist division and fearmongering. I avoid any political commentary on this platform, but it would be wrong to not reject this cruel and ill intentioned article. The Japanese people are not ‘terrified of change’, they simply recognise what would be a destructive course set out by international actors who are hostile to Japan.
If only you liked human beings as much as you like monkeys. 🐵 sad. Because all primates deserve love.
A much needed post, Jake, and hopefully the more progressive weeklies will translate it and get it out here. As I may have mentioned I majored in journalism undergrad at UA, Tucson, and for every piece of writing we'd get two grades: one for writing, the other for reporting. And this, Jake, warrants that special double AA. You write like an angel! Keep humping that glorious muse!!!
Like patriotic Americans say about Trump: "Please God, give us the Trump that The Left believes he is". This long-time resident of Japan feels the same about Takaichi: "Please God, give us the Takaichi that Jake Adelstein thinks she is.
Right-wing populism is on the rise everywhere unfortunately. Koizumi would have been a better choice for PM, though I’ll say that at least she seems more levelheaded than Trump.
Thanks for this analysis, Jake.
Here's hoping she lasts less than Liz Truss's lettuce (i.e., fewer than 49 days). Alas, mine's a mere wish, not a prediction. How Takaichi can two-step round "deepening" alliances with South Korea, The Philippines and Australia while celebrating all those Ancestral Warriors who Did What They Did in those countries and to those countries' citizens, will be something weird -- and assuredly gruesome -- to behold.
So I do not know too much about Japanese politics, but one thing I do know is that for nearly the entirety of the Post-War period the Liberal Democratic Party has been in power. Were there any concerns before of a lack of civil engagement in the country, or questioning if modern Japan is a democracy? Although there has not been outright massacres instigated by the government of Japan in the Post-War period like in Mexico, outside commentators of Mexican politics had labelled the PRI (Institutional Revolutionary Party) - political party that also dominated a single country for decades - as merely a camouflaged dictatorship. I am just curious how the party has been so successful in maintaining power, unless there were some other leverage that they have been able to use. If this was clarified it would clarify to a layperson how big of a shift this woman becoming Prime Minister is for the future of Japan.
I dropped a comment below but just read through the entire feed and found most of it quite edifying and logically presented. My own two yen: Japan has the highest uncertainty avoidance ranking of any country in the world (google it), and part of that is due to a passel of natural disasters. The other is from the kataization (my neologism) of the culture as in one way of doing things most times. When I first visited on my way home through Africa (PC volunteer: Gabon 1981-83) then Asia, ending Asia which our host country nationals are shucks not a part of (t)here with several nights spent at a Tokyo gaijin house where the lines ran long to use the damned single pay phone in response to clipped ads for a teaching job before we were all hustled out at 10 a.m., door bolted. But more widely then the foreigner was treated as an honored guest as kata dictated, and the stories shared in 1983 between foreigners then were rich with this or that Japanese driving hours out of their way to deliver a foreigner to their destination, and in my case and many other gaijin peeps peeping in, invited out to almost anywhere, foremost pour moi hostess bars with hostesses cuddling up and pouring (not stirred or fricking shaken as they were from bottle kept whiskey for mizuwari/high ball? drinks while tickling cajones). Then in the end no matter how hard I tried to push some money on my regular customer who insisted on throwing for everything, with sheaves of those notes with the image of the founder of Keio (even though I taught there, I hit Route 66 last year and words go missing ... like my kids!!!). Yes, we need some levity as Jake layers it in with his witticisms and I'm jamming on that vibe, the way I roll. Anyway, foreigners from way back Meiji who left many things beautiful, as in Yamate-cho where I once lived, were put so high on a pedestal only to be put out of reach, if I may borrow the latter phrase from a writer in the anthology The Broken Bridge (ed. the prolific and talented writer Suzanne Kamata, Intro by Donald Richie; Stone Bridge Press; 1997 ). But now the kataization has us as being seen largely as sawdust in the gears, as in there's no more fricking kata as being put on that pedestal because there are too many of us to fit there AND less and less of "them" which is a word I best change to host country nationals a la Peace Corps cross-cultural sensitivity. And let me drop in my insight that something that doesn't change is dead as, alas, on the population count, the country (fertility rate of 1.2 may be generous), so it's a race between the robotic and gaijin as in the latter needing a paycheck. And on that note, the other night, the first in a long time as being warned against it in emails from the American Embassy with Roppongi thrown in there, hit the mutli-culturalized Kabuki-cho early so as to avoid drunks and more aggressive touts but I right off got a buzz from the energy there, a multicultural free-for-all if you will, and on that note enjoyed some Earl Gray, a brand of tea hard to find. The registers at the conbinis were largely run by Nepalese and some Indians. I loved the flaneur for its spontaneity and how easy and wonderful it was to connect with folks from worldwide as in burning, e.g., with the energy of Phuket, Luang Prabang, Saigon (as natives from Ho Chi Minh call it) and even Berau -- way up Borneo way in a settlement on the lakelike confluence on whose shores Joseph Conrad landed four or five times as a merchant marine aboard the Vidar out of Singapore. There he set his first four novels, the Malaya quartet, penned with scant knowledge of the local culture since he didn't have an ear for shore talk since he only spent a total of two weeks there, as Conrad scholar the late Norman Sherry wrote. His narrative focus was on, in Conrad's first novel Almayer's Folly, one Dutch merchant Almayer (Olmeijer, who rests in peace in Surabaya). But what I'm jamming toward here is areas of Tokyo are sparklers and roman candles comparable, well, almost, to the aforementioned ones I was paid by ANA to travel to as a journalist, mostly with one specific German photographer and how we rocked it into the night! So back to the uncertainty thing, I find it most hard hitting at the fricking regis even while spicing my order with a sumimasen or two, then hit with heatwaves from the friction which puts the whole mugamushu thing to hell a la sawdust in the gears what with a whole lot of confusion as in the cashier at Mac not getting it, my order, 'cause under pressure to speak in a tongue AND kata not her own, so what do I do but rear up and boom my voice a bit (of course, in Nihongo) so as the next cashier, not under the gun, gets it and passes it back ... across the counter. Curious. In the upper middle of Borneo's east coast, most cashiers and some servers spoke in English! Indonesia, by the way, has the highest giving ranking in the world (google smoogle it). Kata this kata that but damnit all how to kataize dealing ... with the tengu (joke!) coming in on black ships a la Captain Perry cracking open Japan who tried to intimidate them with f.a. sumo wrestlers. But now they/we/y'all come by plane and some of them/us/we overstay their visas, but in study after study disproved that in this or that area crime is higher because more ... oni/tengu/gaijin/foreign peeps are there just doesn't pan out in the statistics. Now ending this riff, which will probably be chopped because over letter count, I am bowing into the kata of expression of gratitude for my esteemed Japanese helping solve one of life's greatest challenges and that's finding work, meaningful work, and keeping it, which I've done in over three precious decades here in a bifurcated career as in uni teaching and mostly literary scribbling which I had to prioritize sometimes. Going on 4 a.m. and plea you hopefully get off here: ericmadeen[.]com. No obligations, but rather gratitude ...
Hey Jake, I appreciate your reporting. I'm wondering if there are any English-language sources you recommend (other than yourself) for even takes on Japanese politics? Or if you typically read Japanese sources, feel free to recommend those too. Trying to educate myself in preparation for a move back early next year. Disappointed that the politics I was hoping to escape appear to be inescapable.
You are wrong. And now you are blocked. Get out of my feed, you nitwit.
This one ☝️ wasn’t even a clever neo-Nazi. So I deleted him and moved on. 😏
I only wish you’d found him sooner so I didn’t have to listen to him 😂
🧑🏻🔬 my apologies. 🖖
Coin flip is that you? 😂
Careful, we have space lasers!
Mr coinclip, don’t be racist. It makes you look like an idiot.