Tokyo Report | Politics | East Asia

The Power Behind Japan’s Takaichi Government

Nippon Ishin has, through its alliance with Takaichi, exerted an influence on the Japanese government that far exceeds its parliamentary strength.

Japanese Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae (second from right) poses with Nippon Ishin leaders Yoshimura Hirofumi (second from left) and Fujita Fumitake (far right) on Feb. 9, 2026, a day after the LDP’s sweeping election victory.

On the day of a snap winter election – one that would ultimately end in a landslide victory for the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) – Takaichi  Sanae stood alongside two men. They were not members of her own party, but rather the two leaders of Nippon Ishin no Kai: Osaka Governor Yoshimura Hirofumi and Fujita Fumitake, who leads his party’s Diet delegation. Yet Yoshimura’s stump speech hardly sounded like one delivered by the leader of a different party. In fact, it barely sounded as though Takaichi herself belonged to the LDP.

“We may not have the numbers. But we will never back down. We will not leave Takaichi-san standing alone,” Yoshimura declared. “We will not let Japan stand alone. We are determined to move Japan forward. That is the resolve with which we stand here today.”

Before they joined the ruling coalition, Nippon Ishin’s initial favorite in the October 2025 LDP leadership race was Koizumi Shinjiro, now serving as minister of defense. They shared a commitment to challenging vested interests and embraced what are often described as “neoliberal” approaches to achieving that goal. By providing the LDP with enough votes to secure a parliamentary majority – which it lacked in both houses at the time – Nippon Ishin hoped to advance a reform agenda that would have been impossible to pursue as a mid-sized opposition party alone. 

Although Yoshimura never explicitly endorsed a preferred successor to Ishiba Shigeru, his description of Koizumi as a “politician who embodies the spirit of reform” and “a true reformer” left little doubt about his own – and his party’s – preferred candidate. Consequently, Takaichi’s victory came as a shock to Nippon Ishin. The party had not only expected Koizumi to prevail but also lacked close political ties to Takaichi and her inner circle.

However, the events that unfolded after Takaichi’s election opened a window that had long been thought closed. The LDP’s longtime coalition partner, Komeito, declined to form a government under her leadership, citing frustration with the LDP’s handling of the political funding scandal and doubts that the reforms Komeito sought would be implemented on its preferred timetable. As a result, the once-automatic path from LDP president to Japanese prime minister was no longer assured. The former members of the Democratic Party of Japan were seeking to reassemble. During the ensuing political deadlock, Takaichi wryly referred to herself as “the woman who may never become prime minister.”

Then came Nippon Ishin to the rescue. With the help of  Takashi Endo of Nippon Ishin – who is well known for his cross-party connections and served as an intermediary between Yoshimura and Takaichi – Yoshimura came to see Takaichi as a fellow reformer, while Takaichi, in turn, came to believe that they had more in common than she had initially thought. The coalition talks gained speed, and a week after the leaders talked, there was a coalition agreement. 

Since becoming prime minister, Takaichi has begun implementing key elements of the coalition agreement, many of which had already been on her own policy agenda for years and were included in her campaign platform during the February election. One example is the bill criminalizing the desecration of the Japanese flag – a measure she unsuccessfully sought to enact in both 2012 and 2021. 

Likewise, the security reforms now underway reflect a longstanding agenda of LDP conservatives, including Takaichi, who had long argued that Komeito constrained their ambitions. With Nippon Ishin replacing Komeito as the LDP’s coalition partner, those constraints have largely disappeared. Although the coalition agreement was not exclusively focused on security, it was disproportionately heavy on that area, enabling the LDP’s conservative wing to pursue long-sought defense and public security reforms. 

At the same time, Takaichi’s political indebtedness to Nippon Ishin is widely cited as a reason her government has embraced policies that were not previously among her priorities. The extent of that indebtedness was evident when she introduced legislation to reduce the number of seats in the House of........

© The Diplomat