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July 10, 2026
 

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LDP

Nobuyasu Nikai, the Liberal Democratic Party's candidate for the October 2024 Lower House election, shakes hands with supporters in Tanabe, Wakayama Prefecture.
JAPAN / Politics / First person
Feb 13, 2026
Looking at politics from a different perspective
Three campaigns in 15 months showed how fragile support can be — and how national power begins far from Tokyo.
Yoshihiko Noda, co-leader of the Centrist Reform Alliance, waves during a campaign event in Osaka on Feb. 3. The alliance suffered a crushing defeat in the Feb. 8 election.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 13, 2026
Nothing ‘unexpected’ about the left’s election blowout
The dominance of conservative parties reflects a longer-term shift in Japan’s political center of gravity.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi addresses a news conference at her ruling party's headquarters in Tokyo on Monday, a day after the Liberal Democratic Party won a landslide victory in the Lower House election.
EDITORIALS
Feb 13, 2026
After another historic victory, Takaichi takes command
Not only is she the country’s first female prime minister and a symbol of a new Japan, her career also marks a break from traditional politics.
Japan Innovation Party leader Hirofumi Yoshimura speaks at a news conference on Monday in Tokyo.
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Feb 12, 2026
Why coalition partner JIP is now set to take a Cabinet post
A JIP member is expected to take up a ministerial post sometime later this year.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi speaks during a news conference at the Liberal Democratic Party's headquarters in Tokyo on Monday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 11, 2026
Ruling bloc’s election victory may affect BOJ monetary policy
Sanae Takaichi favors fiscal expansion and monetary easing, while the central bank is seeking to continue raising interest rates to normalize its monetary policy.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi speaks during a news conference in Tokyo on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 10, 2026
After stunning win, Takaichi looks to suspend food tax and revise Constitution
Suspending the consumption tax on food items and revising the Constitution will take time, which may prove challenging for a prime minister who often speaks of moving with urgency.
After the Liberal Democratic Party’s landslide victory in Sunday’s House of Representatives election, the United States plans to boost security and economic cooperation with Japan.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 10, 2026
U.S. plans to boost security and economic cooperation with Japan after LDP win
The result strengthens Takaichi’s political foundation, a U.S. official said, making it easier to advance talks on Japan’s investment in and loans to the United States.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi speaks at Liberal Democratic Party headquarters in Tokyo on Monday, a day after her ruling coalition secured an overwhelming majority in Sunday’s Lower House vote.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 10, 2026
Takaichi’s big win: A major victory for hard-nosed realism
The turnout was driven primarily by a craving for security. Voters rallied behind Takaichi’s willingness to stand up to Chinese economic coercion and disinformation campaigns.
Taro Aso, vice president of the Liberal Democratic Party and a former prime minister, is the oldest winner in Sunday's Lower House election at 85 years old.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 10, 2026
Japan’s Lower House grows younger as the average age of election winners falls
The average age of winners in Sunday’s election was 54.7 years old.
Sanai Takaichi and the Liberal Democratic Party’s landslide victory demonstrated that when candidates find compelling issues that affect their lives, young people show up.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 10, 2026
Japan’s youth are quietly securing their nation’s future
Young voters didn’t just express opinions in polls, they showed up at voting stations in increased numbers, many for the first time.
Japan Innovation Party head Hirofumi Yoshimura speaks to reporters in the city of Osaka on Sunday.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Feb 9, 2026
Uncertainty clouds JIP’s role in ruling coalition following LDP’s election win
With the Liberal Democratic Party winning so many seats, the prime minister may begin to disregard its junior coalition partner’s views, one political scientist says.
Sanae Takaichi, prime minister and leader of the Liberal Democratic Party, at the party’s headquarters in Tokyo on Sunday
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Feb 9, 2026
Is Takaichi on course for a long-term reign?
The resounding win for the Liberal Democratic Party in Sunday’s Lower House election might be the start of an enduring administration for Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, who also serves as president of the Liberal Democratic Party, stands next to LDP Secretary-General Shunichi Suzuki (left) and party Election Strategy Chief Keiji Furuya, placing a red paper rose on the name of an elected candidate at LDP headquarters in Tokyo during the Lower House election on Sunday.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Feb 9, 2026
It’s Sanae Takaichi’s Japan, as PM’s persona powers LDP to electoral success
Sunday’s electoral triumph by the Liberal Democratic Party is less a master stroke of the party than a success of its indisputable architect: Takaichi herself.
Centrist Reform Alliance co-leaders Yoshihiko Noda (left) and Tetsuo Saito during a news conference on Monday in Tokyo
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Feb 9, 2026
The long road to recovery after the CRA’s election loss
The new party must find new leadership after a crushing debut defeat.
The Nikkei 225 stock index crossed 57,000 for the first time on Monday following Sunday's election.
BUSINESS / Markets
Feb 9, 2026
Nikkei 225 rises 3.89% and hits record after Takaichi’s big win on Sunday
The benchmark index hit an all-time high of 57,337.07 in the morning and is now up more than 45% over the past year.
Hikaru Fujita (second from left) greets people in the city of Azumino, Nagano Prefecture, on Feb. 3.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 9, 2026
With 68 seats, record-high female representation in Lower House slips slightly
The women account for 14.6% of all elected Lower House lawmakers, after female candidates secured a record 73 seats the 2024 general election.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi discusses the consumption tax cut last month before the Feb. 8 election.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 9, 2026
Takaichi’s big victory might not be mandate for big spending
Fiscal hawks in the LDP and the bond market are expected to keep a lid on stimulus spending.
Election officials work at a ballot counting center on Sunday in Tokyo.
JAPAN / Politics
Feb 9, 2026
Exit poll shows over 40% of voters want LDP-JIP bloc to continue ruling
The backing far outpaced support for any other alternative arrangement.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi at Liberal Democratic Party headquarters in Tokyo on Sunday. The party secured a fresh mandate and a supermajority in the Lower House in an election the same day.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 9, 2026
Five key takeaways from Takaichi’s landslide victory
The LDP secured a supermajority on its own, giving Takaichi the golden opportunity to implement her policy agenda.
Japanese workers’ real wages fell 0.1% from a year earlier in December, the labor ministry said Monday, extending declines to every month of 2025 amid persistent inflation.
BUSINESS / Economy
Feb 9, 2026
Japan’s real wages drop extends to full year as prices advance
The decline bolsters the case for Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi to continue down a more expansionary fiscal path after she secured a sweeping election victory.
Japanese payment processor’s collapse hits banks and restaurants
Zentoshin served around 200,000 shops, many of which rely on early payments to maintain cash flow, raising concerns over their financial stability following the disruption.
Japan needs caregivers. Young Indians are answering the call.
Young people in India's northeast are increasingly studying Japanese in hopes of building new lives and careers in Japan.
Trump says ‘Japan’ instead of Iran at meeting in Ankara
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at a news conference during a NATO leaders' summit in Ankara on Wednesday.
Wakatakakage injury casts pall over July meet, but potential new stars loom
Nicholas Tarasenko trains at Minato stable in August 2024.
Osaka trumps Tokyo as both ranked among world’s top 10 most livable cities
Osaka’s infrastructure earned higher marks than Tokyo’s in the Economist Intelligence Unit’s latest Global Liveability Index.
‘Princess Mononoke’ comes alive in Super Kabuki staging
The “Princess Mononoke” adaptation was created under Shochiku’s Super Kabuki initiative, a modern form of kabuki with more technology in staging and open to pop culture collaborations.
The beating heart inside ‘Human Vapor’
Different forms of love and connection form the emotional backbone of Netflix’s “Human Vapor,” says actor Shun Oguri, who plays troubled detective Kenji Okamoto.
Japan bets on character IP to drive global growth
Born on social media platforms in 2022, Opanchu Usagi has become a major hit, especially among Generation Z.
Filmmaker explores history of discrimination against foreign nationals in Japan
Takashi Nishihara, the director of "Now and Then," in Tokyo on Wednesday. The director has spent 10 years traversing politically charged terrain while exploring youth-driven grassroots political movements that scrutinize the status quo.
Okinawa’s prized seaweed under threat as oceans warm
Local harvesters gather <i>mozuku</i> during low tide at Hyakuna Beach in the city of Nanjo, Okinawa Prefecture. As the planet warms, rising ocean temperatures are placing increasing pressure on the seaweed industry.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

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