Sanae Takaichi led the Liberal Democratic Party to a historic landslide in Japan’s February 2026 lower house election, defying minority government status, coalition fractures and lingering scandals by leveraging her personal popularity, nationalist narrative and a highly effective digital campaign. Her rebranding of the LDP and strong appeal among younger voters delivered the party’s largest postwar majority, but lofty promises of strategic investment and national strength now face the constraints of fiscal reality and intensifying great power competition. apanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) achieved a stunning…
The Tokyo Times
Dear reader, as you read this, the curtain is rising on the most significant and heartwarming moment of the year for countless Chinese families. Wanderers have returned to their nests, and lights are glowing in millions of homes. The opening act of this grand festival is, and always will be, the Nianyefan – the Chinese New Year’s Eve reunion dinner. It is more than just a carnival for the taste buds; it is a totem of emotion and belonging. However, if we zoom out and look at the rising steam…
Valentine’s Day: The Politics and Psychology of Hating Love. Each year Hindu nationalist groups carry out violent crackdowns on couples in public spaces during Valentine’s Day in India. These incidents show how moral policing, group identity politics and anxiety about social change combine to justify control over private emotion and public behaviour. On Feb. 14, activists linked to Hindu nationalist organisations entered NMIMS University in Indore and allegedly vandalised property after claiming that an obscene Valentine’s Day related program was being organized on campus, according to The Telegraph. The university…
Japan is preparing to lift long-standing restrictions on lethal weapons exports, marking another step in the erosion of its post-war arms export taboo. While the reform creates new diplomatic and commercial opportunities and allows deeper security cooperation with regional partners, Japan’s defence industrial base remains small, costly and capacity-constrained. Domestic procurement demands and labour shortages mean exports will likely remain modest, limiting the policy’s practical and strategic impact on regional military balances. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s government is looking to loosen Japan’s long-standing restrictions on weapons exports, marking another step…
The search for rare earths for energy transition is often regarded as a form of neo-colonialism, and today it is the area in which this phenomenon manifests itself most clearly, especially due to its geopolitical and economic effects. However, there are other neo-colonial practices that are less visible but with equally negative consequences at the local level. One of these is the export of waste to Africa and Asia by Western countries, particularly the export of plastic, clothing, and electronic waste. The export of waste to the Global South is…
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s conservative Liberal Democratic party (LDP) has secured the biggest election victory seen in Japan since the end of the second world war. In elections on February 8, it won 316 seats out of a total of 465 in the lower house of Japan’s parliament. The Japan Innovation party, its junior coalition partner, secured a further 36 seats. Many had predicted an LDP win. Takaichi called the snap election in January to capitalise on her high approval ratings since becoming Japan’s first female prime minister months earlier.…
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran has briefed Moscow and Beijing on the details and progress of its negotiations with Washington over differences regarding Iran’s nuclear program, Russian media outlet RIA Novosti reported Monday. A Chinese expert said the move reflects routine coordination under the strategic partnership and shows Iran actively seeking support and balance amid a complex geopolitical environment. A day earlier, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi wrote on social media platform X that he had held meetings with the Chinese and Russian ambassadors in Tehran following…
The second largest natural gas producer in northwest Louisiana and east Texas has sold its assets to Japanese conglomerate Mitsubishi. Aethon, a Dallas-based company that operates in the prolific Haynesville shale formation, agreed to a deal worth approximately $7.5 billion, according to an announcement on Friday. Mitsubishi agreed to pay $5.2 billion for Aethon’s equity interests and will assume approximately $2.33 billion in net debt. The company expects the transaction will close in the second quarter of 2026. Aethon’s Haynesville shale assets currently produce about 2.1 billion cubic feet a…
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has delivered her Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) a landslide victory in the parliamentary elections she called shortly after taking office. Now that she has consolidated her power in Japan’s legislature (called the Diet), the big question is what she will do with it. Since her ascent to the prime ministership in a parliamentary vote in October, the ultra conservative Takaichi has upended the normally staid Japanese political system. She has connected with younger voters like no other Japanese leader in recent history with her savvy…
Japan’s first superconducting quantum computer designed and built entirely with components developed domestically began operating at the University of Osaka at the end of July. The new system uses a chip with superconducting quantum bits, derived from metals that exhibit negligible electrical resistance when cooled to temperatures near absolute zero. All the components, including the quantum processing unit developed at the Institute for Research in Physics and Chemistry (RIKEN), are housed in a cryogenic device that allows for extremely low temperatures. Developed in partnership with companies such as Fujitsu, the…