Fringe party Sanseito vows to put ‘Japan first’ to chip away at LDP rule

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Led by Mr Sohei Kamiya, Sanseito advocates for restrictions on immigration as well as laws against foreigners buying Japanese companies or land.

PHOTO: AFP

TOKYO – Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has dominated the country for the last 70 years, losing control of the government only twice.

A five-year-old party cobbled together on social media during the Covid-19 pandemic is trying to weaken that grip on power by tapping into voter frustrations and anti-foreigner sentiment.

The party, Sanseito, is gaining traction in the polls and is focused on peeling away current LDP voters in the upper house election on July 20.

Led by Mr Sohei Kamiya, a former high school teacher, it advocates for restrictions on immigration as well as laws against foreigners buying Japanese companies or land.

Sanseito promises to cut taxes, protect rice farmers, boost the country’s birth rate and curb the use of pesticides.

With the election slogan of “Japanese First” and promises to make people rich, the party’s stance echoes that of US President Donald Trump.

Sanseito is capitalising on voter dissatisfaction driven by the surging cost of food and rent.

It is also explicitly appealing to conservative voters who have been alienated by Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba cooperating with centrist parties after the LDP lost its majority in the Lower House.

“The support base consists of people who feel they have been sidelined since the Covid-19 pandemic and inflation,” said Professor Toru Yoshida, a professor of political science at Doshisha University.

“This includes the bedrock conservative voters who became