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July 08, 2026
 

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DIET

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi at the Prime Minister's Office on Friday
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 18, 2026
Parties clash as they brace for a February snap election
The LDP framed dissolving the Lower House as a chance for voters to judge the new coalition and the administration’s policies.
Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan leader Yoshihiko Noda speaks to CDP lawmakers from both the Lower and Upper House at parliament on Thursday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 17, 2026
CDP’s Noda likely to be PM candidate of new Centrist Reform Alliance party
Komeito leader Tetsuo Saito has endorsed the move, noting the former prime minister’s depth of experience.
Former Japan Communist Party chief Kazuo Shii speaks during a news conference at the Diet building in Tokyo on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 17, 2026
Japan Communist Party’s ex-leader Kazuo Shii will not run in next election
He served as the party’s leader for 23 years from 2000, the longest tenure in JCP history, before assuming the post of chair of the Central Committee in January 2024.
A traffic sign in front of the Bank of Japan headquarters in Tokyo last month
BUSINESS / Markets
Jan 17, 2026
Yen watchers face double whammy of BOJ and election uncertainty
Yen traders are on edge for the risk of renewed volatility in the currency as uncertainty over the nation’s snap election grows with a Bank of Japan meeting approaching next week.
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.
Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan leader Yoshihiko Noda (right) and Komeito leader Tetsuo Saito hold a meeting in Tokyo on Thursday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 15, 2026
CDP and Komeito agree to form new centrist party
The move, coming ahead of a snap election likely to take place in February, is set to remodel Japan’s political landscape.
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.
Social Democratic Party head Mizuho Fukushima speaks during a news conference at the parliamentary building on Dec. 24.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 14, 2026
SDP likely to delay leadership race amid talk of snap election
The Social Democratic Party is considering the postponement due to the possibility of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi dissolving the Lower House for a snap election.
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.
Komeito leader Tetsuo Saito (left) and Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan chief Yoshihiko Noda have agreed to cooperate on "a higher level" on the fielding of candidates in electoral districts.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 13, 2026
CDP and Komeito agree to create new centrist force, but questions remain
The two parties have yet to hammer out all the details, but they are aligned on the need for a broad centrist force in the event a snap election is called.
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.
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.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and Japan Innovation Party head Hirofumi Yoshimura speak to reporters in Tokyo on Dec. 16, 2025.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 8, 2026
Speculation over potential snap election resurfaces
Recent remarks of senior members of the ruling coalition appear to have gotten many talking again about the possibility of a dissolution of the Lower House in the near future.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi speaks during a news conference in Ise, Mie Prefecture, on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jan 5, 2026
Takaichi strikes optimistic tone as she looks ahead to Year of the Fire Horse
The prime minister has expressed hopes that 2026 will be a year of positive energy and vitality.
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.
Prior to launch, Japan ‘strongly urged’ China to reconsider missile test in Pacific
A missile is fired from a Chinese Navy nuclear-powered submarine on Monday.
Suspected Asian fraud ring exec served fresh warrant in Japan
The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department and Osaka Prefectural Police have issued arrest warrants for three people, including a suspected fraud network leader, over alleged immigration and residency violations.
Japan might be giving the currency market the silent treatment
Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama has issued verbal warnings recently using the same language and the same tone, saying authorities “will take appropriate action at any time, as necessary.”
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.
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
By Alex K.T. Martin

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