A key issue female Japanese voters focus on in election season is whether the men who dominate politics are serious about welcoming more women to their ranks.
More female lawmakers are needed to speak for Japanese women at a time when the nation faces challenges such as an acute shortage of places at children's day care facilities.
Out of 389 candidates in Sunday's Upper House election, 96 are women, down nine from the Upper House election three years ago. The ratio of female candidates to males is up by 0.5 percentage point to 24.7 percent because the overall number of people running has fallen from 433 to 389.