By Tanya Sakzewski
Immigration was a key issue in Japan’s July elections for the upper house after the far-right Sanseito party warned of a “silent invasion” of immigrants. The party, launched on YouTube in 2020, won 14 new seats in the 248-seat upper house, improving on the one seat it secured in the previous election.
Sanseito broke into mainstream politics with its “Japanese First” campaign which calls for tougher restrictions on foreigners and the curtailment of gender equality and diversity policies, including encouraging women to leave the workplace to become stay-at-home mothers.
After the election, the party’s leader Sohei Kamiya told Nippon Television that: “The phrase Japanese First was meant to express rebuilding Japanese people’s livelihoods by resisting globalism. I am not saying that we should completely ban foreigners or that every foreigner should get out of Japan.”
Diversity under pressure?
With growing popularity and presence in parliament, will Sanseito and other far right parties now influence policy?
Sanseito pledged to restrict the inflow of foreigners, by setting targets. Just days before voters went to the polls, the government announced a new taskforce to address issues of immigration and overtourism.
Growing numbers of people visiting Japan have led to complaints about overcrowding, noise pollution, and strains on infrastructure. In May, there were an estimated almost 3.7 million international travellers in Japan, according to the Japan National Tourism Organisation. That’s a year-on-year increase of 21 per cent.
Foreign born residents comprise just 3 per cent of the total population. With a declining and aging population, foreign workers are needed to fill jobs and for growth.
In a recent survey of economists by Nikkei, in collaboration with the Japan Centre for Economic Research, 66 per cent agreed that an increase in the number of foreign residents could improve Japan’s fiscal balance, driven by their tax and social insurance contributions, and help raise the living standards of local citizens. Many emphasised the benefits of diversity in terms of raising economic growth.
Donna Weeks, Emeritus Professor at Musashino University, Tokyo, said Sanseito, which emerged out of the Covid crisis has tapped into the “politics of grievance”. The party appeals to younger voters, who relate to its immigration and economic pledges.
The role of social media
With Sanseito utilising social media to reach those younger voters, the role of social media has featured heavily in the analysis of the election.
In Japan, a ban on internet campaigning was lifted in 2013, paving the way for social media to carve out a role. The Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2025 named the increasing role of social media in elections as one of the challenges for traditional media. The report said the country’s media landscape is rapidly changing, with daily newspapers in sharp decline and broadcasters losing their audiences to YouTube and other video platforms.
Although the traditional parties also use social media, Professor Weeks says they are not as effective getting their message across, especially with younger voters. “I think it’s also probably the younger people on social media aren’t actually interested in those more traditional parties either. So, it’s probably a two-way thing. There’s not much in those parties that attracts them at this stage.”
Like many other countries, the growing popularity of and shift towards social media has raised concerns over security and the reliability of information.
According to Japanese media, the National Police Agency detected almost 900 threatening online posts in the run-up to the election. The Agency says it warned users making the comments and had them delete them from their posts.
An opinion poll in early 2025 by the public broadcaster NHK found 52 per cent were concerned to some extent and 31 per cent very concerned that mis- or disinformation on social media could affect the election. Only 16 per cent weren’t concerned at all.
Before the election, a group of nongovernmental organisations called for measures against misinformation and discrimination during the campaign. An editorial in the daily The Mainichi called on politicians to correct misinformation and fake stories about foreign nationals to avoid spreading xenophobic sentiment throughout society.
Portrayal of women and minorities
The Upper House election ushered in a record number of female candidates. With 42 seats, up from 35, women now hold 33.6 per cent of the 125 seat House.
Professor Weeks says media coverage has a strong focus on women in politics, with scrutiny of the numbers standing in elections and the success rate. “It’s a big part of the post-election analysis.”
She says in the past four to five years there has also been a shift in the way people from bicultural backgrounds are presented in the media and society, with some hosting TV news programmes.
“The generation that grew up in a bicultural world, say a Japanese parent and a non- Japanese parent, they’re now coming of age,” she said. “So, you are starting to see the people of bicultural heritage moving into those positions. It’s taken a while. Previously, if they had foreigners on TV, it was to be the fools to be made fool of, or they’d be in a strange sort of role.”
What is still missing, according to Professor Weeks is greater portrayal of immigrants in the media landscape, especially when it comes to hearing their stories.
The future – more of the same or a shift to the right?
With the LDP coalition having lost its majority in the Upper House elections, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has been under pressure to stand aside. He has vowed to stay in the post.
What happens next politically will likely indicate whether or not the country shifts further to the right, impacting immigration policy and diversity. If Prime Minister Ishibu is forced out, the choice of successor will signal the direction the country is taking. The next local and Lower House elections will also cement whether or not the appeal of populist parties will be short-lived.
