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July 09, 2026
 

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LDP

Former Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga speaks to reporters in Yokohama on Saturday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 17, 2026
Former PM Suga announces retirement as lawmaker
“I’ve been considering the timing of retiring as a lawmaker since I turned 70,” Suga told reporters in Yokohama. “I will now give way to the next generation.”
A supermarket in Tokyo in March 2023
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 17, 2026
Takaichi reportedly considers suspending sales tax on food in election pledge
The government and Takaichi’s Liberal ‍Democratic Party will carefully assess the impact on markets before deciding.
A stock board shows major gains by the Nikkei 225, in Tokyo on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jan 17, 2026
‘Takaichi trade’ faces risks from inflation, yen slump and yield jump
While Japan’s equity benchmarks are repeating a familiar pattern of rallying ahead of Lower House elections, further gains may depend on details of Takaichi’s spending plans.
Liberal Democratic Party Secretary-General Shunichi Suzuki criticized the formation of the new party comprising the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan and Komeito and expressed doubts it would last long.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 16, 2026
Formation of new party sparks concern in the ruling LDP
LDP lawmakers who won their seats with support from Komeito voters in the last general election could find themselves at a disadvantage.
Then-Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga in a news conference in September 2021
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 16, 2026
Suga won’t run in next election, reports say
The former prime minister and veteran lawmaker is reportedly retiring from national politics.
Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan leader Yoshihiko Noda (center) and Komeito leader Tetsuo Saito (second from right) announce the name of their new party along with other party executives in Tokyo on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Jan 16, 2026
Why the CDP and Komeito are forming a new party
The party is hoping that the new tie-up will attract moderate voters who are reluctant to vote for the conservatism of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi.
Prime minister Sanae Takaichi and Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama attend a budget committee session in the Lower House of parliament in Tokyo on Nov. 11. Their rise to the nation’s highest offices underscores the growing prominence of women in Japanese politics.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 16, 2026
Feminism’s failures and the secret to Takaichi’s success
A movement that cannot accommodate this complexity — that insists feminists must agree on everything or be dismissed as traitors — consigns itself to irrelevance.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and Japan Innovation Party head Hirofumi Yoshimura speak to reporters in Tokyo on Dec. 16.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 15, 2026
LDP and JIP won’t coordinate candidates in upcoming snap vote, officials say
The decision is highly unusual and potentially risky for the ruling coalition partners as they seek to expand their parliamentary numbers.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi marks the end of trading in 2025 at the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Dec. 30. If she can leverage her popularity into an election win, she could restore the LDP’s majority in the Lower House that it lost in 2024. 
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 15, 2026
Can Japan’s popular new leader beat the heat with a snap election?
The timing makes sense, and not just for the temperature. After three months in office, her polling numbers remain off the charts.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi delivers her first policy speech in parliament in Tokyo on Oct. 24.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 14, 2026
Takaichi to roll the dice on risky, but potentially rewarding, snap election
Calling a snap election during the next session of parliament could prove to be a double-edged sword for the prime minister.
The possibility of an election being called has led to a surge of optimism in the equity markets and concern about debt.
BUSINESS / Markets
Jan 14, 2026
Nikkei 225 breaks 54,000 as ‘Takaichi trade’ dominates for another day
Ten-year yields are at 27-year highs while the currency trades at levels that triggered intervention in the past.
A man walks past an electronic quotation board displaying numbers of the Nikkei 225 stock index in Tokyo on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 13, 2026
‘Takaichi trade’ is back following reports that election will be called
Yen neared ¥159 to the dollar and 10-year Japanese government bonds fell.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi during a summit meeting with South Korea's President Lee Jae Myung in the city of Nara on Tuesday. Takaichi reportedly told a Liberal Democratic Party executive that she plans to call for an election next week.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 13, 2026
LDP executives go on standby amid reports of imminent snap election
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has reportedly conveyed to a party executive her plan to dissolve the Lower House at the start of the regular session of parliament.
Yuichiro Tamaki, the leader of the Democratic Party for the People, speaks in the city of Takamatsu, Kagawa Prefecture, on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 13, 2026
Signs of friction emerge between DPP and LDP following snap election rumors
Although the prime minister has yet to confirm a snap election will take place, Democratic Party for the People leader Yuichiro Tamaki has gone on the offensive against her.
Liberal Democratic Party leader and the current prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, meets with Hirofumi Yoshimura, leader of the Japan Innovation Party, at the national Diet building in Tokyo in late October.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 13, 2026
Why Takaichi would call a snap election
Takaichi may dissolving the Lower House of the parliament upon its mandatory convocation later this month, which would prompt a general election sometime in February.
Yuichiro Tamaki, the leader of the Democratic Party for the People, said an early dissolution of the Lower House would violate an agreement between the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and the DPP to realize the enactment of the budget by the end of this fiscal year.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 12, 2026
DPP may not approve fiscal 2026 budget if there’s a snap election, Tamaki says
An early dissolution of the Lower House would violate an agreement between the Liberal Democratic Party and the opposition Democratic Party for the People, Yuichiro Tamaki said.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi speaks during a ceremony marking the end of trading of 2025 at the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Dec. 30.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 11, 2026
Momentum grows for snap election as Takaichi’s views enter ‘new stage’
The co-leader of the Japan Innovation Party, the LDP’s ruling coalition partner, has said the prime minister’s thinking on the matter had “shifted to a new stage.”
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi speaks during an event in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 10, 2026
Takaichi reportedly eyeing snap election next month in bid to stabilize ruling bloc
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is considering dissolving the Lower House for a ‌Feb. 8 or Feb. 15 poll, the Yomiuri Shimbun daily has reported.
A march demanding the release of ousted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Thursday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 9, 2026
LDP lawmakers urge government to clarify position on U.S. attack on Venezuela
During the meeting, an official from the Foreign Ministry declined to provide a legal assessment of the U.S. strikes, which some nations say violated international law.
Shinsekai, the renowned culinary district of Osaka. Osaka Gov. Hirofumi Yoshimura has called for the creation of a secondary capital in prefecture.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Jan 9, 2026
Race to become Japan’s secondary capital heats up
As the Japan Innovation Party works to get Osaka designated the country’s secondary capital, other municipalities are looking to muscle in.
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.
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.
Japanese teen arrested for booting users off streaming service
The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department has arrested a 15-year-old boy for allegedly creating a malicious program and canceling subscription accounts on the Bandai Channel.
Long-stalled maglev line finally gets green light from Shizuoka Prefecture
Environmental concerns relating to the construction of Central Japan Railway’s high-speed maglev line had contributed to years of delays for the project.
Violence toward ambulance crews in Tokyo higher in 2025 and rising this year
A bloodstained helmet worn by an ambulance crew member who became involved in a case of violent abuse against the crew
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.
Japanese nail salons are tourists’ new obsession
Tourists in Japan have always been interested in quintessentially Japanese approaches to modern culture, and, increasingly, visits to nail salons have become the new hot thing.
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.
‘Defense,’ not ‘warfare,’ stressed as pacifist Japan beefs up capabilities
Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi attends an annual training session near Mount Fuji at Higashifuji Training Field in Gotemba, Shizuoka Prefecture, on June 7.

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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