A fringe far-right populist party in Japan was one of the biggest winners in the weekend’s upper house election

Sanseito, a new far-right party with a charismatic leader, Sohei Kamiya, came up big in Japan's parliamentary election by running on an anti-immigration, nationalist platform under the slogan "Japanese First.

Campaigning under the nationalist slogan “Japanese First,” the party capitalised on growing public frustration with immigration, inflation and the ruling coalition’s performance.View on euronews

Populist ideals are gaining traction in Japan, spurred by right-wing politicians running rampant elsewhere railing against “elitism”, “globalism” and immigration.

The small rightwing populist party led by firebrand Sohei Kamiya won 14 seats in Sunday’s Upper House election.

Right‑wing firebrands like Javier Milei in Argenitna and Giorgia Meloni of Italy have made strong careers railing against “elitism,” “globalism” and immigration. It’s part of a movement capitalising on widespread frustration with left-wing politics.

Japan’s shaky ruling coalition is likely to lose its majority in the upper house, exit polls showed after Sunday’s election, potentially heralding political turmoil as a tariff deadline with the United States looms.

Internal rivals and a resurgent nationalist right are jeopardising Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s already precarious position.