Tokyo Report | Politics | East Asia

The Untold Story of Japan’s Election: The Quiet Breakthrough of Team Mirai

Team Mirai, a new party founded in May 2025, secured 11 seats in the lower house.

The newly-elected lawmakers from Team Mirai pose for a photo before attending their first session of the Japanese Diet, Feb. 18, 2026.

The February 2026 lower house election in Japan delivered electoral results that will take some time to fully understand. The major election headline was that the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) surged from 198 to 316 seats, clearing the two-thirds threshold on its own and setting a postwar record for seats won by a single party. Meanwhile, the Centrist Reform Alliance – formed by the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan and Komeito just before the election – collapsed from 167 seats to just 49.

Most coverage has focused on the LDP’s landslide and the centrists’ rout, worthy focuses to be sure. But another story deserves attention as well: the quiet rise of Team Mirai, a new party founded in May 2025. It secured 11 seats in the lower house, compared to one seat in the upper house. That’s more than double the party’s own pre-election goal, and only four seats fewer than Sanseito, whose meteoric rise sparked a flood of thinkpieces last year.

It’s worth taking a closer look at Team Mirai and its breakthrough success. 

Team Mirai was founded by Anno Takahiro, an AI engineer and science fiction writer who previously ran in Tokyo’s 2024 gubernatorial race. Several points make Anno’s party stand out, including its stance on maintaining the consumption tax while pursuing social security reforms, its use of contemporary technological language, and the criticisms that have followed.

During the campaign, the consumption tax became a key economic issue. Since its introduction nearly four decades ago, the consumption tax has been increased three times; it is now at 10 percent for most items, and 8 percent for food. Parties across the political spectrum, from the left-wing Japanese Communist Party and the right-wing Sanseito, pledged to cut the consumption tax on food items to ease inflation, support households, or lift real wages. Even Japanese Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae said she would accelerate discussions on the consumption tax. 

It’s clear why: the Japanese public is increasingly concerned about the rising cost of living. Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine triggered energy price spikes in 2022, Japan’s consumer price index has grown by around 3 percent, the highest level since the bubble economy collapsed. Voters have consistently reported rising prices being their top concern. Food and daily necessities have become particularly painful pressure points, and more households feel their disposable income shrinking. In a November 2025 Yomiuri Shimbun poll, only 33 percent rated the government’s response to inflation positively. Against that backdrop, the lower house campaign became a contest over how far to cut the consumption tax, rather than whether to cut it at all. 

What set Team Mirai apart was that it was the only party to clearly reject consumption tax cuts outright. The party argued that cutting the consumption tax was not a sustainable solution. Instead, it campaigned on lowering social insurance premiums, introducing tax reductions tied to the number of children in a household, and strengthening the long-term sustainability of the social security system. 

These policy stances gave voice to a sizable but politically homeless constituency. Skepticism toward consumption tax cuts is far from marginal, given major concern over Japan’s record high national debt. Its debt-to-GDP ratio is now over 230 percent, the highest among G-7 nations. 

Team Mirai’s stance on the consumption tax aligns with the views of many economists in Japan. In a joint survey by the Japan Center for Economic Research and Nikkei of 50 economists, 42 percent said they “strongly disagree” that setting the consumption tax rate on food to zero would benefit the economy, while another 46 percent said they “disagree.”

Yet in this election, few parties represented voters who are worried about Japan’s fiscal health. By rejecting tax cuts, Team Mirai avoided competition in a crowded pro-cut field. While pro-reduction votes splintered across multiple parties, anti-reduction voters converged on a single party: Team Mirai.

Similarly, Team Mirai’s campaign language, which was centered on AI, data, and performance metrics, may also have helped draw support from non-affiliated and young voters. As its name suggests – “Mirai” means “future” – Team Mirai presents itself as a forward-looking party that emphasizes administrative efficiency, data-driven governance, evidence-based policymaking, and public–private collaboration over left-right ideology. These themes are backed further by the qualifications of its founder Anno, an AI engineer and science fiction writer.

But the party’s underlying philosophy is not new. From the late 20th century to the early 21st century, advanced economies embraced reforms that combined market mechanisms with social policy, shifting implementation toward private and nonprofit actors while the state focused on system design, regulation, and coordination. Critics argue that Team Mirai’s program often appears novel mainly because it repackages earlier reform ideas in contemporary technological language. They contend that its “not left or right” stance is little more than a slogan, lacking substantive policy detail, that the party is big on vision, but short on specifics.

At the same time, the party’s emphasis on AI has faced controversy. Team Mirai developed “AIAnno,” an AI chatbot based on Claude, to answer questions about the party’s policy positions. Critics online have raised concerns about potential information leakage to foreign states and the possibility that policy design could be influenced by input from outside the country. 

Some have even framed this as a form of “digital colonialism,” structural subordination in which sovereign lawmakers can operate politically only within the scope authorized by an “AI constitution” defined by a specific company. AIAnno sparked a larger debate about the risks of calling for innovation while Japan lacks independent infrastructure – and relying instead on platforms controlled by other countries.

Such controversy appears to align with broad public sentiment about AI. According to the IPSOS AI Monitor Survey 2025, covering 30 countries, Japan ranked second lowest in public trust that the government can regulate AI responsibly, just above the United States.

Also, after the program source used for AIAnno was released on GitHub, it was revealed that certain terms had been designated as “NG words,” preventing the system from generating detailed responses. This has raised additional concerns about the party’s lack of clear positions on some controversial issues that matter to voters.

While Japanese media has often attributed Team Mirai’s rise to its rejection of the consumption tax cut and its use of contemporary language, South Korean media highlighted a different story. Team Mirai’s slogan – “Not right or left: what we need now are policies that give hope for the future” – has resonated in a society deeply divided by political polarization. South Korean media, including Chosun Ilbo, attributed the party’s surge to its emphasis on technology and “digital democracy” over left-right ideology, appealing to young voters distrustful of established parties.

Team Mirai’s rise in this election signals some voters’ unease with an economic policy debate dominated by tax cuts, and a willingness among this group to emphasize social insurance burdens and fiscal sustainability. Also, its avoidance of entrenched conservative-liberal confrontation, along with its argument that politics should focus on system design rather than power struggles, has made a striking impression. 

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The February 2026 lower house election in Japan delivered electoral results that will take some time to fully understand. The major election headline was that the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) surged from 198 to 316 seats, clearing the two-thirds threshold on its own and setting a postwar record for seats won by a single party. Meanwhile, the Centrist Reform Alliance – formed by the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan and Komeito just before the election – collapsed from 167 seats to just 49.

Most coverage has focused on the LDP’s landslide and the centrists’ rout, worthy focuses to be sure. But another story deserves attention as well: the quiet rise of Team Mirai, a new party founded in May 2025. It secured 11 seats in the lower house, compared to one seat in the upper house. That’s more than double the party’s own pre-election goal, and only four seats fewer than Sanseito, whose meteoric rise sparked a flood of thinkpieces last year.

It’s worth taking a closer look at Team Mirai and its breakthrough success. 

Team Mirai was founded by Anno Takahiro, an AI engineer and science fiction writer who previously ran in Tokyo’s 2024 gubernatorial race. Several points make Anno’s party stand out, including its stance on maintaining the consumption tax while pursuing social security reforms, its use of contemporary technological language, and the criticisms that have followed.

During the campaign, the consumption tax became a key economic issue. Since its introduction nearly four decades ago, the consumption tax has been increased three times; it is now at 10 percent for most items, and 8 percent for food. Parties across the political spectrum, from the left-wing Japanese Communist Party and the right-wing Sanseito, pledged to cut the consumption tax on food items to ease inflation, support households, or lift real wages. Even Japanese Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae said she would accelerate discussions on the consumption tax. 

It’s clear why: the Japanese public is increasingly concerned about the rising cost of living. Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine triggered energy price spikes in 2022, Japan’s consumer price index has grown by around 3 percent, the highest level since the bubble economy collapsed. Voters have consistently reported rising prices being their top concern. Food and daily necessities have become particularly painful pressure points, and more households feel their disposable income shrinking. In a November 2025 Yomiuri Shimbun poll, only 33 percent rated the government’s response to inflation positively. Against that backdrop, the lower house campaign became a contest over how far to cut the consumption tax, rather than whether to cut it at all. 

What set Team Mirai apart was that it was the only party to clearly reject consumption tax cuts outright. The party argued that cutting the consumption tax was not a sustainable solution. Instead, it campaigned on lowering social insurance premiums, introducing tax reductions tied to the number of children in a household, and strengthening the long-term sustainability of the social security system. 

These policy stances gave voice to a sizable but politically homeless constituency. Skepticism toward consumption tax cuts is far from marginal, given major concern over Japan’s record high national debt. Its debt-to-GDP ratio is now over 230 percent, the highest among G-7 nations. 

Team Mirai’s stance on the consumption tax aligns with the views of many economists in Japan. In a joint survey by the Japan Center for Economic Research and Nikkei of 50 economists, 42 percent said they “strongly disagree” that setting the consumption tax rate on food to zero would benefit the economy, while another 46 percent said they “disagree.”

Yet in this election, few parties represented voters who are worried about Japan’s fiscal health. By rejecting tax cuts, Team Mirai avoided competition in a crowded pro-cut field. While pro-reduction votes splintered across multiple parties, anti-reduction voters converged on a single party: Team Mirai.

Similarly, Team Mirai’s campaign language, which was centered on AI, data, and performance metrics, may also have helped draw support from non-affiliated and young voters. As its name suggests – “Mirai” means “future” – Team Mirai presents itself as a forward-looking party that emphasizes administrative efficiency, data-driven governance, evidence-based policymaking, and public–private collaboration over left-right ideology. These themes are backed further by the qualifications of its founder Anno, an AI engineer and science fiction writer.

But the party’s underlying philosophy is not new. From the late 20th century to the early 21st century, advanced economies embraced reforms that combined market mechanisms with social policy, shifting implementation toward private and nonprofit actors while the state focused on system design, regulation, and coordination. Critics argue that Team Mirai’s program often appears novel mainly because it repackages earlier reform ideas in contemporary technological language. They contend that its “not left or right” stance is little more than a slogan, lacking substantive policy detail, that the party is big on vision, but short on specifics.

At the same time, the party’s emphasis on AI has faced controversy. Team Mirai developed “AIAnno,” an AI chatbot based on Claude, to answer questions about the party’s policy positions. Critics online have raised concerns about potential information leakage to foreign states and the possibility that policy design could be influenced by input from outside the country. 

Some have even framed this as a form of “digital colonialism,” structural subordination in which sovereign lawmakers can operate politically only within the scope authorized by an “AI constitution” defined by a specific company. AIAnno sparked a larger debate about the risks of calling for innovation while Japan lacks independent infrastructure – and relying instead on platforms controlled by other countries.

Such controversy appears to align with broad public sentiment about AI. According to the IPSOS AI Monitor Survey 2025, covering 30 countries, Japan ranked second lowest in public trust that the government can regulate AI responsibly, just above the United States.

Also, after the program source used for AIAnno was released on GitHub, it was revealed that certain terms had been designated as “NG words,” preventing the system from generating detailed responses. This has raised additional concerns about the party’s lack of clear positions on some controversial issues that matter to voters.

While Japanese media has often attributed Team Mirai’s rise to its rejection of the consumption tax cut and its use of contemporary language, South Korean media highlighted a different story. Team Mirai’s slogan – “Not right or left: what we need now are policies that give hope for the future” – has resonated in a society deeply divided by political polarization. South Korean media, including Chosun Ilbo, attributed the party’s surge to its emphasis on technology and “digital democracy” over left-right ideology, appealing to young voters distrustful of established parties.

Team Mirai’s rise in this election signals some voters’ unease with an economic policy debate dominated by tax cuts, and a willingness among this group to emphasize social insurance burdens and fiscal sustainability. Also, its avoidance of entrenched conservative-liberal confrontation, along with its argument that politics should focus on system design rather than power struggles, has made a striking impression. 

Peter Chai, or Kai Shibata, is a Ph.D. researcher at the Graduate School of Political Science, Waseda University. He holds a BA in Economics and MA in Political Science from Waseda University. His research areas are political sociology, comparative politics, and public opinion, and his regional focus is East Asia.

Charles Crabtree is a senior lecturer at Monash University. His research interests include intergroup relations and conflict with regional focuses on the Asia-Pacific and the former Soviet Union. He has published numerous articles at top journals in political science and other fields.

Japan consumption tax

Japan government debt

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