With a general election set to take place in the next 18 months, Nippon Ishin no Kai’s ability to expand its reach from its Kansai home base and garner support across Japan — starting with Tokyo's No. 15 district — will be under growing scrutiny.
For the party, which has made regional decentralization and vocal opposition to the overconcentration of economic and political power in Tokyo its signature policies, fine-tuning an effective message that appeals to voters in the capital would seemingly be the next box to check.
Over the last decade, Nippon Ishin has swept through local politics in Osaka, pledging to tackle the city's financial distress through radical administrative reforms, while building a solid support base and almost driving the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) out of the region.