Two years ago, Nippon Ishin no Kai was riding high. The April 2023 nationwide local elections saw the party finishing with 774 local leaders and prefectural and city assembly members across the country, and it seemed on course to becoming Japan’s largest opposition force and, possibly, a future ruling party.
But scandals, resignations and local election losses since then have left it far short of either goal. Now, a few months ahead of the Upper House election, the unpopular party faces new charges of poor governance.
“To be honest, Nippon Ishin is already falling apart, and there’s lots of confusion within it. What exactly they want to do is unclear, even to me,” Ichiro Matsui, former Nippon Ishin leader and former Osaka mayor and governor, said on his YouTube channel late last month.
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