What is a ‘Japanese conservative’ in this day and age?

In the Japanese national election for the Upper House in July, a supermajority of the voters selected what media refer to as "conservative" parties: the Liberal Democratic Party, Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Innovation Party), Democratic Party for the People (DPP), Sanseito and the Conservative Party of Japan (CPJ). Some also categorize Komeito as "conservative" because it is part of the ruling coalition, but in terms of its political policies, it may fit better in the liberal camp.

The now "barely ruling” LDP under Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba lost its third consecutive major election, primarily as it hemorrhaged young conservative voters in the 18 to 49 age bracket.

Some pundits and LDP leaders who want to protect former Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, as well as Ishiba, argue that this is primarily due to the LDP's political funds scandal.

My view is that younger voters saw the LDP as a group of elderly, self-absorbed elitists who were out of touch with the issues that mattered to them. They moved en masse to the DPP, Sanseito and CPJ, all of which presented a more energetic leadership and candidates who were focused on the issues that appealed to them, while Ishin retained its base in the Kansai area. The voters moved to conservative parties because they no longer could see what the LDP stood for under former leaders Yoshihide Suga, Kishida and now Ishiba.

These younger people did not move to the liberal parties. In fact, the old liberal parties — such as the Japanese Communist Party or the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDP) — lost votes to newer, more radical liberal startup parties, like Reiwa Shinsengumi. Komeito saw its loyal voter base shrink yet again as its supporters have aged. Each of them saw their strongest support from those 70 years and older.

The foreign media have been spinning a narrative that Japan is following the global trend of seeing the rise of more extreme left- and right-populist political parties. Yet as a whole, Japan remains as politically centered as it has been in the past 80 years.

The biggest issue with the foreign media's coverage of Japanese politics is that they tend to apply the same labels of conservative, liberal and populist as they use in their own countries, without understanding that these labels take on completely different meanings when applied to Japan.

With each of the oldest parties confronting significant losses in their support bases and infighting in both the LDP and CDP, the age of the "big tent" party, which allowed for groupings of convenience of both liberal and conservative wings, appears to be approaching its life expectancy.

That, in turn, may lead to the breakups of the LDP and CDP, and the potential for new parties to rise from the ashes, built more around conservative and liberal principles rather than personalities and personal relations.

The Japanese voter, especially the younger generation, appears to be seeking political parties that clearly stand for something they believe in.

The need to clearly define what makes a voter or a politician "conservative" in Japan has never been more urgent. In fact, there is a growing amount of open discussion today among Japanese conservatives to better define what they stand for.

Unlike in many Western countries, Japanese conservatism is not about the size of government, gun rights, reproductive rights, access to universal health care and elderly care, income inequality, progressive income and inheritance tax structures, religious fundamentalism or states' rights vs. central government.

Tomohiko Taniguchi, a former speechwriter for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and currently the chairman of the conservative group Nippon Kaigi, offered this approach. It is about preserving what has been handed down through the generations: "the imperial family, cultural heritage, the memory of the nation." One of his favorite examples is the Shoso-in Imperial Treasure House, located within the grounds of Todaiji Temple in the ancient capital of Nara, which has existed since the 8th century. Taniguchi believes that the wooden, flammable building has survived because of communal respect for a shared memory.

Last May, the conservative magazine Hanada had a special feature on "What is Conservatism?" One of the comments came from Tsuneyasu Takeda, who echoed Taniguchi by saying conservatism is "the willingness to adapt flexibly to protect what must be preserved." The example he cited was the 1,300-year-old ritual practice of building, to the same design, a new main worship hall of the Grand Shrines of Ise every 20 years, alternating between two adjacent sites. The exceedingly rare carpentry skills are nourished while introducing modern sustainability. The Grand Shrines refers to this as "changing to remain unchanged," which leads to a state of permanence.

When you boil down those broad concepts into the three most critical policy positions that are subject to debates in Japan, the short list looks something like this:

• Maintain the imperial succession that has remained unbroken through the male line up to the current 126th emperor by restoring some of the imperial branches that the American Occupation authorities forced to leave the imperial household.
• Confirm in Article 9 of the Constitution the role of the Self-Defense Forces to fully function as a military force that can defend the Japanese people and the nation's territorial sovereignty from all foreign threats with all means required to deter the threat or, if needed, firmly defend against it.
• Preserve Japanese identity, traditional values and customs by maintaining a shared sense of community and the family.

There is a long list of other issues that are under debate between the liberal and conservative camps, both within parties and between parties, such as mandatory use of the same surname, legal protections for same-sex marriage, how to fund both our social welfare system and the increasing demands of our national security, among others.

If a politician cannot sign on for the above points, then how can they be considered a Japanese conservative? It is time to restructure the nation's political system to deliver what over 70% of Japanese voters want: a conservative government based on the principles and policies that matter most to them. The conservative wing of the LDP can initiate this change by leading the process.