The Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito recently marked 21 years of alliance, having ruled Japan as a coalition for 18 of those years. Now — faced with policy differences and generational changes, along with two key elections — those time-tested relations could be put under strain as never before and could herald a shift in the nation's political landscape.
How has Yoshihide Suga's leadership affected relations between the parties?
During the tenure of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Komeito faced pressure to support collective self-defense bills and other security-related legislation that Abe wanted but which upset Soka Gakkai, the lay Buddhist organization that forms Komeito’s key support base. Abe’s determination to revise the Constitution was also opposed by many in Komeito.