For a long time, Japan’s political system was treated as a success story in comparison with other democratic states. During the 2010s, while Western democracies were engulfed by a populist surge driven by perceptions of elite failure and backlash against immigration, Japan remained a stable one-party-dominant system. This stability was partly attributed to the country’s insulation from concerns over uncontrolled immigration inflows, a condition reinforced by its status as an island nation.

Even one of the most disruptive international events since World War II — the COVID-19 pandemic — appeared to have little effect on Japan’s political stability. The ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) won comfortably in two consecutive general elections, in 2021 and 2022, both held under the shadow of the pandemic. 

At the beginning of the 21st century, the conditions existed for populist figures to sway the public by mobilizing genuine social discontent. However, Japan’s perceived political stability — defined here as the absence of turmoil driven by anti-elite sentiment — was largely sustained by the rhetorical and stylistic appropriation of populism by established politicians.

Amid what is now retrospectively referred to as the “Lost Decades” of economic stagnation, during which the unemployment rate reached its highest level since the end of World War II, Koizumi Junichiro (prime minister 2001-2006) gained sustained popularity by introducing an overtly populist style of governance with considerable success. He labeled all dissenters — including critics within his own party — as “resistance forces,” and framed his reform proposals as measures that would penetrate previously protected “sanctuaries,” thereby creating the impression that entrenched, self-interested groups stood in the way of reform.

The Democratic Party........

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