The ruling Liberal Democratic Party lost five of the six seats up for grabs in the Tohoku region in Sunday's Upper House election as voters vented their frustration with the government's post-disaster reconstruction plan and the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact.
In humiliating news for the party, which won big elsewhere, Justice Minister Mitsuhide Iwaki lost again to Teruhiko Mashiko of the Democratic Party, who was also backed by other opposition parties.
Fukushima, where 100,000 residents remain displaced five years into the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl, was an important constituency for the LDP.