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July 20, 2025
 

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2025 UPPER HOUSE ELECTION

People watch a campaign speech in Tokyo on July 13.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 19, 2025
Record 21.45 million people vote early in Upper House poll
The figure represents 20.58% of all voters, with many people using the system given the long weekend.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who serves concurrently as president of the Liberal Democratic Party, delivers a campaign speech in Yokohama on July 6.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Jul 19, 2025
Japan's minority government faces election snub as economic storm brews
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's LDP and its partner Komeito are forecast to lose their majority in a repeat of last year's Lower House election.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who serves concurrently as leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, waves to voters from atop an election campaign van during a rally Friday in Yokohama for Sunday's Upper House election.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Jul 19, 2025
Ishiba's future in balance as polls hint at rout in Upper House election
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba likes the nitty gritty of policy, cigarettes and making models, but his dream job as Japanese leader could go up in smoke this weekend.
Food banks are struggling to secure rice and other food items to distribute to people in need as inflation has put a dent in donations.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 18, 2025
As rice shortage hits donations, food banks urge politicians to tackle poverty
Food banks are struggling to secure rice and other food items to distribute to people in need as inflation has put a dent in donations.
A Sanseito campaign van in Shinjuku. The populist party is gaining ground and challenging the more centrist parties.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 18, 2025
Japanese markets brace for triple whammy if opposition wins big
Bonds, stocks and the yen could be destabilized if spendthrift parties gain influence.
A think tank researcher said anti-government propaganda by Russian bot accounts was what has made the small far-right party Sanseito so popular leading up to the Upper House election.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 18, 2025
Concerns grow in Japan over possible Russian interference in Sunday’s election
A blog post from a member of the Japan Institute of Law and Information Systems went viral for stating Russian bots were interfering in the upcoming Upper House election.
Fukoku Life Insurance has raised its local bond purchase target for the current fiscal year to several hundred billion yen from the initially planned ¥30 billion, and is focusing on Japanese government debt to capitalize on higher super-long-term interest rates.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 18, 2025
Fukoku Life plans to step up Japanese government bond purchases
The insurer's plan to purchase more Japanese super-long bonds comes amid concerns a defeat for the ruling coalition in the Upper House election may lead to looser fiscal policy.
A woman holding a child listens to a stump speech in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward on June 25.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 18, 2025
Parties vow measures to tackle falling birth rate
Last year, Japan recorded fewer than 700,000 births for the first time.
People with intellectual disabilities take part in a study session on the Upper House election in Higashiosaka, Osaka Prefecture, on July 8.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 18, 2025
People with intellectual disabilities create election dictionary
The dictionary contains about 170 election-related terms, such as "the right to vote," "candidate" and "democracy."
Once seen as an unlikely prime minister, Shigeru Ishiba has struggled to deliver on promises, mishandled ties with U.S. President Donald Trump and now faces an election where the odds don’t look good for his party to come out victorious.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 18, 2025
A trade deal fumble could be Ishiba’s last mistake
Ishiba already leads a coalition that lacks a majority in the Lower House, and another bad showing Sunday will likely mean Japan is looking for its third leader in as many years.
Mazda employees walk at the company's main plant in the town of Fuchu, Hiroshima Prefecture, on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jul 18, 2025
Japan voters see little hope for tariff reprieve in carmaker Mazda's hometown
The economic engine of Hiroshima Prefecture faces U.S. tariffs of 25% on cars, a dispiriting prospect for an electorate already battling inflation.
Agriculture minister Shinjiro Koizumi visits a rice farm in Ibaraki Prefecture on July 9. Inflation is eating into household budgets, and higher prices are causing much concern among the Japanese public.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jul 18, 2025
In Japanese politics, rice is the 'third rail'
If inexperienced politicians inadvertently damage Japan’s food security, voters will send them packing.
The Tokyo district has the highest number of candidates in the 2025 Upper House election with 32 people in the running for seven seats.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Jul 18, 2025
In Upper House race, younger voters in Tokyo turn to DPP for new direction
Many younger voters, especially in the capital, are drawn to the party's idea that the working generation must be supported for the sake of everyone.
Consumer prices excluding fresh food rose 3.3% from a year earlier in June, according to the internal affairs ministry.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 18, 2025
Inflation stays elevated after easing from two-year high
Japan’s key price measure cooled a tad more than expected while remaining well above the Bank of Japan’s target.
Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan leader Yoshihiko Noda said it is obvious that Japanese society could not function without the help of foreign workers in manufacturing, health care, construction and public transportation.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 17, 2025
CDP leader criticizes ‘Japanese First’ policy and calls for inclusive society
Foreign residents are critical to maintaining Japan’s economy, said Yoshihiko Noda, as he issued a call on the campaign trail for a multicultural society that respects minorities.
Sanseito head Sohei Kamiya makes a stump speech in Tokyo on July 3.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 17, 2025
Sanseito third-most-popular party in Upper House race, poll shows
The ruling Liberal Democratic Party remained the front-runner at 20.9%, albeit down 3.6 points from June.
A former company employee who posts highlight videos on YouTube prepares to livestream Shinji Ishimaru's stump speech in Tokyo in June. Jiji
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 17, 2025
Highlight videos online playing big role in Upper House election
Social media is increasingly impacting election results in Japan amid the growing popularity of YouTube and other video-sharing sites.
Campaign posters in Tokyo. Voters in Japan put immediate economic issues ahead of longer-term concerns about the effects of tariffs.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jul 17, 2025
Trump tariffs fail to register with Japanese voters ahead of key election
Only 8% of voters surveyed by NHK rated tariffs as their top priority.
Mayu Ushida, a former NHK newscaster running for election in the Tokyo electoral district on the Democratic Party for the People ticket, signs an autograph for a voter after a public rally at Shinjuku Station in Tokyo on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Politics
Jul 17, 2025
From stalking to death threats, female candidates still face harassment
As Japan aims to increase the number of women in politics, addressing the issue of unwanted attention from men remains a challenge.
Kiyoshi Shibata stands in front of one of the rice paddies in Murayama, Yamagata Prefecture, where he produces the prefecture's signature rice brand Tsuyahime.
JAPAN / Politics / FOCUS
Jul 17, 2025
Japan's rice farmers are confounded by Shinjiro Koizumi’s policies
Farming communities, a key base for the Liberal Democratic Party, are increasingly voicing their distress at how the rice situation is being handled.
Japanese markets brace for triple whammy if opposition wins big
A Sanseito campaign van in Shinjuku. The populist party is gaining ground and challenging the more centrist parties.
Sunken WWII Japanese warship Teruzuki found off Solomon Islands
The Solomon Islands. A team from the U.S. nonprofit Ocean Exploration Trust has discovered the Imperial Japanese Navy destroyer Teruzuki on the deep seabed off the Solomon Islands as the 80th anniversary of the war's end approaches.
Living conditions index hits lowest level in 15 years in Japan
The share of respondents to a Bank of Japan quarterly survey in June who said they have become worse off came to 61.0%, up 5.1 percentage points from the previous survey.
In Upper House race, younger voters in Tokyo turn to DPP for new direction
The Tokyo district has the highest number of candidates in the 2025 Upper House election with 32 people in the running for seven seats.
Concerns grow in Japan over possible Russian interference in Sunday’s election
A think tank researcher said anti-government propaganda by Russian bot accounts was what has made the small far-right party Sanseito so popular leading up to the Upper House election.
Japan's rice farmers are confounded by Shinjiro Koizumi’s policies
Kiyoshi Shibata stands in front of one of the rice paddies in Murayama, Yamagata Prefecture, where he produces the prefecture's signature rice brand Tsuyahime.
From stalking to death threats, female candidates still face harassment
Mayu Ushida, a former NHK newscaster running for election in the Tokyo electoral district on the Democratic Party for the People ticket, signs an autograph for a voter after a public rally at Shinjuku Station in Tokyo on Tuesday.
Kawaii Lab redefines idol pop for the TikTok generation
Misa Kimura is the main producer for Kawaii Lab, a project by entertainment agency Asobisystem whose groups have found success by pairing a social media-first strategy with a fresh perspective on traditional idol-pop tropes.
Craig Mod's life in motion in a disappearing Japan
Mod's memoir “Things Become Other Things” chronicles his walking trips across the Kii Peninsula, surveying “a graceful end to a certain life cycle.”
With China and Trump, Japan defense report says world entering ‘new era of crisis’
A senior member of a Self-Defense Forces honor guard inspects a formation before the arrival of Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba for a visit to the Defense Ministry in Tokyo on June 30.

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