The streets of Tokyo were dusted with a rare snowfall as election day broke on Sunday, while other parts of the country were issuing emergency alerts as a blizzard gripped much of Japan.

It’s perhaps for this reason that a country with several of the snowiest regions hasn’t had a winter election for decades. But bad weather couldn’t deter the electorate, which turned out in greater numbers than in the last vote in 2024. They were given a simple question: whether or not to endorse Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi with a mandate to rule.

Past prime ministers have typically hung such votes on a policy issue. Takaichi made this an election about herself. In a gamble on her popularity, she called on the electorate to endorse her, personally.

“As a country with a parliamentary system, there is no means by which the citizens can choose their prime minister directly,” she said last month. “I want the Japanese people to make the decision directly on whether to entrust the management of the nation to Sanae Takaichi.”

Management has been entrusted. Now, she must repay that trust.

The margin of victory is far more resounding than almost anyone could have expected. Her 316 seats exceeds the achievements of any leader of the Liberal Democratic Party. Even Shinzo Abe, her late mentor who became Japan’s longest-serving leader, did not realize this level of success. A two-thirds........

© Bloomberg