海角大神

I was fascinated to read Ned Temko鈥檚 column today about 鈥淛apanese MAGA鈥� 鈥� the rise of the populist far-right Sanseito party, which just went from one member to 14 in the upper chamber of parliament. We鈥檙e seeing MAGA look-alikes spring up around the world, but the Japanese version struck me as curious. Japan, after all, has low levels of immigration.聽Immigrants make up under 3% of the population, as Ned points out.

Still, his piece brought me right back to my two-week trip to Japan in 2002 with a journalists鈥� group. Japan鈥檚 adherence to tradition rang through loud and clear, including in the dearth of women in the newsroom we visited. The challenge for Japanese politicians today is rooted in more universal themes, as Ned writes: a need to 鈥渞eengage with voters who feel economically stuck, unhopeful about their future, and unwilling to trust the same old politicians to improve things.鈥�

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Editor鈥檚 note: A story in yesterday鈥檚 Daily, by Cameron Joseph, was initially published without his byline.聽