Ju-min Park and Kiyoshi Toyama

TOKYO, Reuters – The third largest party in Sunday’s elections was a right-wing Japanese party that has a stronghold at Osaka in western Japan. This surprising result is due to discontentment with both the central government (Reuters) and the left-wing opponents.

Fumio Kishida, Prime Minister of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), defied all expectations to retain its strong majority at the lower house poll. This solidified his position as a fractured party and allowed him to increase economic stimulus.

The left-leaning Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, (CDPJ), lost some seats but remained as the second largest party in the House.

Japan Innovation Party (JIP), a conservative group that nearly quadrupled its total to 41 seats within the 465-seat legislative, won the most votes. It surpassed even Komeito which was LDP’s coalition partner.

Right-leaning JIP was seen as an ally of the LDP in its push for a revision to the constitution. It has called for tax reductions, decentralisation and deregulation to stimulate growth.

“They were more critical of the central government and they managed to get votes from those hesitant, but not satisfied with the main opposition,” said Corey Wallace (a Kanagawa University Japanese politics expert).

The party’s youthful No. One was a key reason the JIP had such a great success. Hirofumi Yashimura was Osaka governor. He also used social media to increase his reach and make frequent appearances during COVID-19’s pandemic.

Contrary to many Japanese mainstream politicians of his generation, the 46 year-old has over 1.2million followers on Twitter (NYSE.). He is a casual speaker and frequently makes television pleas to the people to adhere to pandemic restrictions.

SECURITY CASINOS AND CAPITALISM

Yoichiro Sato is a Professor of International Relations at Ritsumeikan Asian Pacific University. He said that the JIP favors small government and can “block Kishida’s new capitalism idea to narrow the gap between rich and poor incomes” further.

Like the LDP however, the JIP supports the revision of post-war constitution. It also allows the defence budget above the informal ceiling at 1%. For the first time, LDP demanded that defense spending be increased to 2%.

Mikitaka Mazuyama, professor at The National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies, said that “if they cooperate in promoting policy bolstering defence, there won’t be any CDPJ or Japanese Communist Party able to do anything.”

Stronger JIPs could help Japan focus more on its drive to develop casinos. Osaka has chosen MGM Resorts International (NYSE 🙂 International partner and the party supports this effort. Orix Corp builds what may be Japan’s premier casino.

Wallace claimed that Osaka residents were “not as strongly opposed” to casinos, as is the case in other potential locations like Yokohama. Wallace also stated that JIP won despite supporting a casino as one of their more clear and committed positions. This suggests that there’s a good chance for casino supporters eventually winning.

Ichiro Miatsui, Osaka’s mayor, who led the party’s election said that they will remain in opposition. They would also keep the Kishida administration under control by “saying the right thing is right, and the wrong thing is wrong”.