Christopher Harding

Christopher Harding is the author of A Short History of Japan.

Short Cuts: Japan at the Polls

Christopher Harding, 5 February 2026

Ahead oflast year’s elections to the upper house of the Japanese parliament, Sanseito, a new party of the populist right, ran a ‘Japanese First’ campaign attacking foreign residents and tourists as well as the country’s establishment, which it accused of failing to defend Japan’s borders and interests. Sanseito has a charismatic frontman, Kamiya Sohei, a...

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