Far-right forces in Japan hope to capitalize on growing immigration concerns as the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba brace for a tough election on Sunday.

The Japanese are set to vote for just over half of the 248 seats in the country's House of Councilors, the upper chamber of the Japanese parliament. Ishiba's LDP and the allied Komeito party need to win at least 50 of those seats in order to maintain their majority. But even this relatively low bar might prove to be too much amid LDP's tumbling popularity.

While the LDP is considered conservative, voters perceive it as moving to more centrist positions in recent years. Now, Ishiba is fending off attacks from unabashedly nationalist parties like Sanseito and the Conservative Party of Japan, whose immigration policies are similar to the far-right Alternative for Germany (AFD) or Donald Trump's MAGA movement in the US.

Michael Cucek, a professor of politics and international relations at the Tokyo campus of Temple University, says part of the anti-foreigner sentiment is fanned by unruly tourists causing mayhem in the previously serene backstreets of Kyoto and other traditional towns.

"The weak........

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