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DIET

Takaichi, surrounded by LDP influencers
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 22, 2025
In pictures: The day Japan’s glass ceiling finally cracked
Scenes from the day Sanae Takaichi made history as Japan’s first female prime minister, winning a tense parliamentary vote and forming a Cabinet of “resolve and progress.”
Liberal Democratic Party President Sanae Takaichi reacts to applauding lawmakers after being elected prime minister at the Lower House on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 21, 2025
Takaichi makes history as Japan’s first female prime minister
Monday’s coalition agreement between the Liberal Democratic Party and Japan Innovation Party made her ascent to the nation’s top post all but certain.
Then-Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba delivers a policy speech during an ordinary session at the Lower House of parliament in Tokyo in January. Sanae Takaichi’s victory may result in fewer proportional seats in parliament, a shift that could hurt smaller parties. Bloomberg
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 21, 2025
How the LDP-JIP coalition could hurt smaller parties
If the JIP’s proposal goes through unchanged, it would mean a reduction of 46 seats from the proportional representation districts.
Liberal Democratic Party President Sanae Takaichi meets with Japan Innovation Party leader Hirofumi Yoshimura after signing a coalition agreement in Tokyo on Monday.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 21, 2025
The winners and losers after Japan’s political shakeup
The country’s ruling coalition has many issues to overcome before proving its long-term viability, but they have time before any national level elections to work through them.
Nikkei 225 stock index breaks record and nears the 50,000 mark on Tuesday just ahead of the vote on the next prime minister.
BUSINESS / Markets
Oct 21, 2025
Nikkei 225 retreats as Takaichi becomes prime minister
Tokyo stocks hit a record earlier in the day only to give up most of the gains.
Pedestrians walk past an electronic quotation board displaying numbers of the Nikkei 225 stock index outside a brokerage in Tokyo on Monday.
BUSINESS / Markets
Oct 20, 2025
Nikkei 225 breaks 49,000 and hits record as political stability returns
The benchmark index rose more than 3% in strong trade throughout the day.
Liberal Democratic Party President Sanae Takaichi (third from right) and LDP executives hold talks with Nippon Ishin no Kai co-leader Fumitake Fujita (third from left) and Nippon Ishin executives at the Diet building on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 17, 2025
Nippon Ishin edges closer toward forming coalition with LDP
The Osaka-based party has decided to no longer take part in policy talks with its opposition peers on forming an alliance against the ruling party.
Osaka Gov. Hirofumi Yoshimura, who leads Nippon Ishin no Kai, says a "definite condition" for forming a coalition with the Liberal Democratic Party is to reduce the number of parliamentary members.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Oct 17, 2025
Coalition with LDP could give Nippon Ishin chance to advocate its pet projects
Osaka Gov. Hirofumi Yoshimura, who leads Nippon Ishin, said a “definite condition” for forming a coalition with the LDP was reducing the number of parliamentary members.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses a plenum session of the Knesset in June.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 17, 2025
Has Japan’s Diet finally begun its ‘Knessetization’?
My focus is entirely on whether Japan’s parliament will finally begin to “Knessetize” (referring to Israel’s parliament, and by extension, unstable coalition politics.)
Japan's political center is in turmoil, with the ruling party losing its long-held dominance and a series of complex negotiations ahead. The country’s leadership future is now uncertain.
COMMENTARY
Oct 15, 2025
A negotiator’s nightmare in Nagatacho
The LDP has since pushed back the date to vote for the next prime minister to Oct. 21.
The 'Takaichi trade' is in doubt and Liberal Democratic Party President Sanae Takaichi faces challenges from opposition parties.
BUSINESS / Markets
Oct 14, 2025
China-U.S. trade war and political turmoil in Japan weigh on Tokyo stocks
The Nikkei 225 fell as much as 1,500 points, and closed the day down 2.58%, at 46,847.32.
Komeito leader Tetsuo Saito speaks at a news conference in Tokyo on Friday after leaving the ruling coalition earlier in the day.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 12, 2025
After ruling bloc collapses, LDP and opposition scramble to find needed votes for PM
New LDP President Sanae Takaichi faces a higher hurdle in finding the votes needed to become Japan’s next leader as opposition forces discuss a unified candidate.
Liberal Democratic Party President Sanae Takaichi enters party headquarters in Tokyo on Thursday.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Oct 11, 2025
Why Japan’s coalition collapsed — and what’s next
In an upcoming vote in parliament, all parties are expected to put forward their leaders in a first round of voting, with LDP chief Sanae Takaichi likely bound for a runoff.
Ichiro Ozawa (left), leader of the Liberal Party, Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi (center) and Takenori Kanzaki, leader of Komeito, hold hands ahead of a three-party summit toward forming a coalition government, at the Prime Minister's Office in Tokyo in October 1999.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Oct 11, 2025
LDP-Komeito coalition marked by twists and turns over 26 years
The two parties have been in a mutually dependent relationship centered on electoral cooperation.
Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan leader Yoshihiko Noda speaks to reporters at the Diet in Tokyo on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 11, 2025
After ruling bloc breakup, CDP and Komeito eye unified PM candidate
The move comes as the Democratic Party for the People appears no longer willing to hold coalition talks with the LDP, putting new ruling party chief Sanae Takaichi in a tough spot.
LDP leader Sanae Takaichi and Komeito leader Tetsuo Saito attend a party leaders' meeting on Friday in Tokyo.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 10, 2025
Takaichi’s PM bid faces further headwinds with coalition split
Komeito’s decision to end the 26-year partnership with the LDP means the ruling party will need to court opposition parties to vote Takaichi in as prime minister.
Atomic bomb survivors from Nihon Hidankyo making a request to each party at the office building of House of Councilors lawmakers in Tokyo on Thursday.
JAPAN
Oct 10, 2025
Cross-party group for nuclear abolition to be set up in Japan
Nihon Hidankyo members criticized the government for ignoring the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and refusing to send an observer to a meeting of signatories.
Democratic Party for the People leader Yuichiro Tamaki speaks during an interview on Thursday at the parliament building.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 10, 2025
DPP leader Tamaki negative on joining LDP-led coalition for now
The DPP chief noted that his party would not form a coalition with the LDP if it lacks Komeito.
Officials from the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan and the Democratic Party for the People in the Diet building on Wednesday
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 8, 2025
CDP proposes DPP head Tamaki as unified opposition PM candidate
The proposal is believed to be aimed at putting a brake on the LDP’s intensified outreach to the DPP as a potential coalition partner.
Komeito leader Tetsuo Saito (left) and LDP counterpart Sanae Takaichi meet in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Oct 8, 2025
After 26 years, Komeito may be showing signs it will break with LDP
Komeito not immediately endorsing Takaichi reflects deep concerns among Soka Gakkai members, the party’s main supporters in the lay Buddhist group, about her ideology and policies.

Longform

The Terasaka Rice Terraces are seen with Mount Buko in the background.
What Yokoze can teach Japan about rural revival