Political party with ‘Japanese First’ platform made big gains in Japan’s elections

A Japanese political party seemingly inspired by U.S. President Donald Trump’s “America First” agenda made significant gains in the country’s parliamentary elections on Sunday.

Japan’s relatively new Sanseito party won 14 seats in Sunday’s upper house election. It was a sizable addition for the party, which was founded in March 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Reuters. Previously, the Sanseito party only won a single seat in Japan’s 2022 election. If the new political party wanted to officially announce its arrival on Japan’s political scene, Sanseito made it on Sunday.