Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the Liberal Democratic Party appear to be invincible at the national level, with no serious political rivals in sight.
But at the local level, dissatisfaction with Abe and his party's policies and leadership style is growing. LDP-backed candidates lost key elections in Nago, Okinawa Prefecture, in January and Shiga Prefecture earlier this week, and face tough campaigns this autumn in Fukushima and Okinawa prefectures.
Those elections are increasingly seen as de facto local referendums on Abe's decision to promote nuclear power, in the case of Fukushima, and build a replacement base for the U.S. Marine base at Futenma in northern Okinawa. Losses by an Abe-backed candidate in one or both elections could bode ill for LDP candidates in local elections next spring.